


Unforgettable

by walkinginspace



Series: Gateways [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Breaking the Fourth Wall, Dessert & Sweets, Don't Read This, F/F, F/M, Fantasy Fulfillment, Fuck Or Die, Handcuffs, I Blame Tumblr, Lesbian Sex, Light Dom/sub, Multi, Oral Sex, Sex Pollen, Telepathic Sex, Threesome - F/F/M, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-17
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-11 17:29:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 28,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17451266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkinginspace/pseuds/walkinginspace
Summary: Marissa Simms finds herself somehow walking into an alien party, where the Doctor and River Song are guests... except that Doctor Who is fiction. Or is it?In which there is a malicious dessert and lots of sex.





	1. I went to a marvelous party

**Author's Note:**

> In which I take [the most fucked-up prompt I've ever seen on Tumblr](https://i.ibb.co/zPW2S9N/swiththedoctor.jpg) and run with it. 
> 
> (Okay, it's somewhat modified from the original version, but still. I AM SERIOUSLY MESSED UP, Y'ALL. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.)

My first thought when I walked out of the bathroom was: _Where the hell am I?_

My second thought was: _I'm really glad I'm wearing a nice dress._

*

There were aliens everywhere. Or, at least, people dressed like aliens. Very realistically like aliens. _What is this, some kind of costume party?_ But I'd noticed almost right away, amid all the strange skin colors and hairstyles and limb shapes, that everyone was also wearing fancy clothing. It was a little hard to miss a dark, blue-skinned woman with outlandishly-styled hair wearing a white, feathery dress that looked like it was glowing from the inside. Or maybe it was her skin that was glowing. I wasn't entirely sure.

She swept by me, trailing some kind of fine, sparkling powder in her wake, and all I could do was gape.

I turned around and raced back to the bathroom.

Everything looked normal inside. The same bathroom I'd just been in – high-end, with modern decor, beautiful fountains, and lovely perfume to cover any other possible scents. I looked at myself in the mirror. I was still all there, makeup newly fixed, my pupils just a bit too wide under my glasses. I looked down at my hand, gripping a shining silver clutch far too tightly. I put it on a ledge and hastily opened it. Everything was still there – makeup, wallet, restaurant mints. I looked it over two, three, four times, just to be sure.

_Am I hallucinating? What the_ _ **fuck**_ _just happened?_ I was starting to shake, just a little. I forced myself to take a deep breath, and leaned against the cleanest-looking part of the countertop.

_Okay. You're going to be fine. Just go out there, remember that what you're seeing isn't real, and look for your family. It isn't real. It isn't real. You know it can't be real. It. Isn't. Real._

I still paused for far too long a time before I very slowly made my way to the door again.

The aliens were still there.

I looked behind me. Same washroom. Then I turned back to the room, fear starting to overwhelm me. I was looking at aliens. _Aliens!_

“It isn't real,” I whispered to myself _sotto voce_. “It isn't real. They're just weird people in costumes, or something.” _Really? You're going to tell yourself something that stupid?_ “It's not real. It's NOT REAL.”

“What's not real?”

I turned to see who was speaking... and nearly dropped my clutch.

*

The woman standing in the bathroom doorway was pale as a ghost, and terrified. That was odd enough; but the even stranger thing was that she was _human_. River Song knew for a fact that she was the only human who'd been invited to this particular party. River's presence as a half-human had only been tolerated because the Doctor had been adamant that he'd _not_ attend without her, thank you very much, and the party's host had so desperately wanted him that she'd made the concession. He was another trophy for the hostess to add to her collection of influential friends, in her continual hunt for glory and fame in the 73 Galaxies of Atra. River didn't care about the hostess one way or the other, because she'd come for only two reasons: the food and the Doctor. It was worth suffering the airs of a snobby, boring hostess to go out with him – something River did far too seldom in her opinion.

River flicked her eyes over the woman, sniffing the air with far more subtlety than the Doctor had ever learned to do, as she assessed the situation in a way only a Time Lady could. There was something distinctly wrong about the redhead's scent. It was as if she wasn't quite from here – from this place, or maybe from this time. The Doctor hadn't taught her enough yet about scent analysis to be certain, but she knew enough to be sure that this woman definitely didn't belong.

Before she could analyze further, the woman's jaw, which had been almost on the floor, closed enough to speak.

“Alex Kingston?”

*

“Alex Kingston?”

I had to admit, I was stunned. What in the world was an actress doing here – and such a famous one? She couldn't be in this part of NS. It was absurd. Plus, after sitting for about 25 minutes at a table smack in the middle of a tiny restaurant, one would think that if she'd been there I'd have seen her before now.

“Who?” She furrowed her eyebrows, then looked me up and down sharply. I instinctively pulled my arms into myself.

“You. You're Alex Kingston, aren't you?”

“No, I'm afraid I'm not.” There was something cold in her voice. I huddled into myself a little more, looking down at the glint of silver in my hand, before my eyes began to roam over the room again, and I became even more scared.

_Oh, God... somehow she's part of the hallucination, isn't she?_

*

The woman was scared witless. River could smell it – just slightly, but it was there. She'd been training in human scent analysis with the Doctor, and there was no doubt about either the fact that she was human or the fact that her cortisol levels were high, and continuing to rise.

“Do you know where you are?” River spoke calmly, moving in a little closer to try and block the party-goers from seeing the woman.

The redhead blinked behind her glasses, taking a step backward. “Well, I _thought_ I knew where I was.”

“Okay... maybe the better question is, 'Where _were_ you?' ”

“Well, I was in the bathroom. This one.” Glasses Girl let out a breath, glancing back at the plush room filled with sinks and mirrors.

“This specific bathroom?”

“Yes. But then I left, and...” Her voice trailed off. She hugged herself more tightly, the silver clutch she was carrying pressed into her side so hard that River could see the dent.

“And what?” River took another step forward, but the woman shrank back even further, abandoning her hold on the door in her retreat. River's arm immediately shot out, catching the door right before it slammed shut.

_You're not getting away that easily._

*

I'd backed up so much that I'd ended up in the bathroom again... but Kingston was extremely quick to step in behind me. As the door closed behind her, she gave me a wordless glance, then started to walk around, touching things and, oddly enough, _sniffing_.

_God. It really_ is _her_.

My fascination rose almost to an even level with my fear as I studied her – her body, her movements, her hair. That wonderful hair, set in an updo, but just as curly as River Song's would have been, and just as lovely as I'd imagined.

And, good lord, that _dress_.

It was a brilliantly metallic dark gold, with a low-cut halter strap neckline very like the ones River Song herself had always worn in Doctor Who. It was sleeveless, and the torso was snugly fitted, showing off every curve of her upper body. The skirt was even more extraordinary: it was long, and so incredibly glossy that it reflected the light every time she made the slightest motion. It was similar to how I imagined Katniss Everdeen's candlelit dress would look. _Where in the world did she get that?_ I could only imagine it had cost a small fortune. Of course, Alex Kingston could probably afford it without much trouble.

I raised my eyes from the bottom of the dress, where strappy black heels were peeking out at the front, as she turned around to face me again.

“Who are you?”

“My name's Marissa,” I said, swallowing. “But you're not Alex Kingston?”

“Should I be?” Her suspicion was making me suspicious... and irritable.

“Yes, you should be, unless she has an identical twin somewhere that I don't know about.”

“Well, I've been called a lot of things, but Alex Kingston isn't one of them,” she said, circling her hand just barely around the rim of a sink. Her whole body moved with fluidity and confidence, and I found myself flashing back to images of River Song. _That's just the way she would walk._

Then an absurd thought came to my mind... so absurd that I immediately brushed it away as nonsense. But if she really wasn't Alex Kingston...

“Well, then, what _are_ you called?” I asked. It would have been playful if I hadn't been so frustrated. This had to be Kingston, playing some sort of joke for whatever reason. But why would she do that? And where had that scene outside the bathroom come from?

She hesitated for a moment, then smiled.

“I'm Doctor River Song.”

*

Glasses Girl – Marissa – looked up at River with a mixture of disgust and disbelief.

“You really expect me to believe that?”

“You might as well. It's my name.”

“That is such bullshit.”

“What makes you say that?” River took a step forward, only noticing that she did it because the woman stepped backward almost immediately after, eyes flickering down over the skirt of River's dress. It really was ridiculously bright – it had been almost blinding when she'd arrived. The Doctor had had to use his sonic screwdriver on the hostess' electrical system so River's retinas didn't burn up.

“River Song doesn't exist. She's a character. Fiction. Not real. Which you know perfectly well, _Alex_ , so why don't you just give up this act?”

River couldn't help letting a flicker of her own surprise cross her face. A fictional character? What in the universe was this woman going on about? The thing was impossible, of course. Yet obviously someone else with her own face existed in this woman's world. It couldn't just be a coincidence.

River shook her head a little, hands on her hips, then looked straight into Marissa's eyes, which didn't flicker from her own despite the still-heightened cortisol. “Okay, it's obvious we're not getting anywhere with this conversation.”

“You say that like it's _my_ fault,” Marissa practically spat. “I was in a perfectly normal restaurant, then I walk out and see all these people dressed like aliens, and then _you_ show up, claiming to be River Song! What, are we on the set of Doctor Who or something?”

“Doctor Who?” Her eyes narrowed. “You mean the Doctor?”

“Of course I mean the Doctor!” Marissa practically shouted. She walked a few paces back and forth, hand clenching around her bag, then stared River down angrily. “What is _wrong_ with you?”

“Excuse me?” Every ounce of outrage River felt at the question came out in those two words.

“Why on Earth would you do something like this to someone? Play this kind of trick? Are you trying to make me feel like I'm insane? Well, it's working. I'm feel pretty fucking crazy right now. So just stop this.”

“Listen, you need to calm down.”

“Give up this stupid game and I will!” The woman was going to explode soon, and it wasn't going to be a pleasant sight.

“I'm not sure what game you think I'm playing,” River said slowly, “but I'm as confused about all this as you are.”

“Oh, really?” Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

River's voice took on a conversational tone. “You see, I'd been having a lovely time with the Doctor at one of the biggest parties of 4876, mingling with dozens of truly brilliant aliens – the Goelans, Prish, Halaathis, you name it. Then I have to listen to the hostess tell yet another story about her children – _ever_ so dull; her children are still in the grub stage. They don't even have _brains_ yet. I go to get another drink, hoping that by the time I get back someone will have changed the subject, or maybe the Ridalti orchestra will actually show up to play us some 3350s dance classics, and suddenly I see another human at a party where I know for a fact that I am absolutely the only human who managed to procure an invitation.”

River deliberately step closer to Marissa this time, who was so near a wall that there was almost no room to back up when she tried it. Her eyes got wide as River came closer.

“Not only that,” River continued, “but the human I found happens to smell extremely strange.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“What I mean is... I know that you're not from here.”

The woman blinked, but said nothing.

“You see, I'm only half human,” River said. “I have sensory abilities far beyond what humans are capable of, including a very discerning sense of smell. It can even detect changes in space and time. In short, I know when someone is out of place... and you, my dear, do not belong in this time, or in this space.”

*

“I don't see how you could know all that just from _smelling_ someone.”

The truth was, if I'd had a chair, I'd have dropped straight into it and not moved for quite awhile. It had hit me with incredible force, once I'd realized what might be happening. What, wildly, impossibly, and yet somehow probably was, in fact, happening.

“It's a genetic gift.”

“So you're telling me that I'm not in the time or space I'm supposed to be in?”

“Yes.” River tilted her head, her expression turning to one of surprise as she studied me. “Wait. You mean you didn't know?”

“ _I_ didn't go anywhere!” I said, far too shrilly. _Get a grip on yourself, Marissa._ I shook myself internally, then took a deep breath. “Of course I didn't know. Time travel doesn't actually exist, and our space technology frankly sucks. We can't even get to Mars and back. And this is the same damn bathroom I was in before. If I really did move, why does it all look the same?”

“Parallel universes.”

I stared.

“You can't be serious.” This was absolutely beyond belief. “You expect me to believe not just that parallel universes actually exist, but that somehow, something that is fiction in my part of spacetime came true in yours?”

“There are some very interesting theories about the reality of the universe,” River said. “One is that this isn't the only universe out there. That many, or possibly infinite, universes exist beyond our own. As to whether a complete fiction in one universe can be reality in another... not my area of expertise.”

“Let me guess... I should talk to the Doctor?” I said it dryly, but she nodded.

“He _would_ know more about this sort of thing.”

I had just opened my mouth to reply when a massive crash came from beyond the bathroom door.

*

River turned abruptly at the sound, then sprinted from the bathroom to the party beyond – as fast as one could sprint in stilettos and a floor-length gown, at least.

Somewhere in the middle of the large room something had fallen – something shining almost as brightly as River's dress. Of course, in the Galaxies of Atra, that could be almost anything, since brilliant light was considered the highest form of respect. Even the silverware reflected light so radiantly that it was like each piece was meant to be a backlit mirror.

The silverware!

As she got closer, she saw a tall, rather slender man with long brown hair stand up quickly, his black top hat still sitting perfectly on his head despite the fall. Of course it was the Doctor causing all the fuss. It always was.

“Doctor!” she hissed.

“Oh, it's quite all right. I'm fine,” he said. “Although I may inadvertently have caused the removal of the maid's fingers.”

On the floor sat a wan, orange-eyed girl who was covered in a large quantity of pink foam and looked distinctly off-put.

“Oh, no, not the Foam Geysers,” River said, prodding the Doctor in the side. “I've been looking forward to those all night!”

“Hush, River,” the Doctor said in a low tone. “Don't attract attention.”

“Says the one who smashed dishes all over the floor.”

“Wijesa is coming!” he hissed. “You know what to do!”

The woman in question, a busty, slim-shouldered woman with deep purple skin and a dress in the most vibrant shade of yellow in the known universe, sidled up to the Doctor, enhanced teeth flashing reflected light into River's eyes. River allowed herself one blink, then put on her best toothy smile and made eye contact with the hostess.

“Wijesa!” the Doctor said, air-kissing her. “So sorry about your server. I'd just knelt to tie my shoelace, you see, and I didn't realize she was behind me, and I made her trip, the poor thing. It was all my fault... she had nothing to do with it...”

“I'm just glad you weren't hurt, Doctor,” Wijesa said with a loud purr in her voice. “Under the circumstances, I believe I can allow her to remain whole. This time.” The hostess shot the girl a nasty look, and Orange Eyes wasted no time in fleeing the scene. The Doctor beamed with relief.

Wijesa sniffed, not at all delicately, and wiggled her distinctly elephant-like nose in River's direction. “I can smell that your guest is still here.”

“Oh, yes, she is. She's having a corking good time. Really spiffing. You must tell another of the stories about your children. She was so moved by them that she had to run to the loo and cry.”

River was going to _kill_ him.

“Your children sound simply marvelous, Madame.” Unable to say anything else, lest she lose the very slight grip on her dignity that she still possessed, she instead not-so-subtly moved her skirt in one of the traditional patterns of Atral nobility. It was the reason she was wearing this dress: using something brilliantly shiny to mimic the complex movements was one of the best ways to honor the hostess' people. The Doctor had assured her that it would allow her to survive the night with all her limbs intact.

Wijesa watched for a few more moments, and just as River was beginning to repeat the pattern, Wijesa held up a hand. “There, there... I think you've butchered that enough. Not such a bad showing, though, from a _human_.” She pointed her nose as far from River as it could possibly get, and River slowly backed up a few feet; there was plenty of space behind her, as no one would dare interfere with Wijesa during a potential conflict situation. You could lose more than just a limb if you got on the wrong side of a Trilezian, particularly one with new grubs.

Meanwhile, the hostess had turned back to her most prized guest. “Are you sure you're all right, Doctor? Do you need new clothing? A feast, perhaps?”

“I think I'm full up for the moment,” the Doctor said emphatically, knowing quite well that 'feast' would mean several of the guests served up in a pile of appendages and organs.

“Not too full for dessert, I hope.” That damn woman was flirting with him. Her husband! River would have laughed if she wasn't so cross with him.

“Oh, of course not! I love dessert!” He did, at that. She'd seen him eat up to a dozen bowls of custard in a sitting – with or without fish fingers.

“Good. Come this way, everyone.” She turned her head slowly, showing everyone the reflective surfaces of her teeth, and a collective sigh of relief passed through the crowd. All was well, and now was time for the hostess' treat, which the Doctor said was a famous tradition at her parties.

“Nobody ever knows what's going to be on the next year's menu,” the Doctor was saying as he grabbed River's hand and pulled her alongside him. “They say she chooses her treats years in advance. The only thing anyone knows about them is that they're always something a person can never, ever forget.”

“Doesn't every species say that about their culinary masterpieces?”

“Yes, but this time they mean it literally,” the Doctor said with a wave of his hands, his eyes bright. “You can truly _never forget._ Think of it, River. A memory that would survive any amount of time – decades, centuries, even millennia – and still be as fresh in your mind as the moment you acquired it. Even if you were brain-dead you'd still remember it. Some even think that these particular memories could survive the end of the universe.”

_The universe._ The words triggered a cascade of thoughts, and all at once River's brain began to work properly again. The first thing she did was slap the Doctor's face.

“Ow!” He looked at her with an indignant expression. “What was that for?”

“For making me look like a complete idiot.”

“Oh.” He touched his cheek with his fingertips. “Yes. I deserved that.”

“You certainly did. And since we've settled that, I need to talk to you about something...”

But something that seared River's retinas with its luminescence was being carried in by several dozen small servants, and the Doctor grabbed her hand excitedly. “I'm sure it can wait a few minutes. The dessert is about to arrive! Come on!”

She loved the feel of his hand in hers.

That woman could wait until River was damn well ready.

*

I had bolted after Alex Kingston, or River Song, or whoever the hell she was, the moment she left the bathroom, and thereby returned to the surreal world of aliens all around me. This time, as terrified as I was, I forced myself to be more observant. Could any of what she'd said possibly be true?

Making sure to keep her in my sights, I started looking at every face I could. In all that crowd, I saw no human faces, other than my own, hers, and...

I stopped dead.

It was _him_. Matt Smith, or... the Doctor. Could that actually be THE Doctor?

As I watched, inching as close as I dared with most of the others so far away from them, they played out a scene that could have been in a Doctor Who episode. Yet there were no cameras, no microphones, and no crew of any kind. They could all have been hidden, of course, but what would be the point? On television, if you needed different angles, you just moved the cameras again until you got them. Why would anyone bother to hide them? And besides all that, if some random extra walked into a scene, especially one wearing a conspicuously short dress, wouldn't they stop the shoot and get her off set?

None of it made any sense... _if_ this was, in fact, a television shoot. On the other hand, it all made perfect sense if this was real.

Or I could just be sitting in a mental asylum in a padded room, waiting for my antipsychotics to kick in. But even if that was true – which I was certainly not ruling out at this point – how could I possibly know what was real and what wasn't unless I came out of the psychosis? For all intents and purposes, I could be stuck here indefinitely.

Until I could somehow wake up or get home, the most reasonable thing to do was play it safe... this was a Doctor Who scenario, after all. Stay back from everything unless it looked like danger, in which case I would stick to the Doctor like a burr. Matt Smith was going to stay in my sight at all times – or, if I couldn't find him, River would do. Because either all of this was fake and I'd get laughed at afterward, or it was real, and a lack of caution on my part could very easily get me killed.

It would be much, much better to pretend it was actually happening.

River began to back up slowly, and I watched as the dress continued to shimmer under the multitude of lights, a dreamy sort of expression settling over my face as I stared at her. After far too long, I remembered myself and wiped my face blank; God knew that anyone here might be able to discern my feelings about her if I kept this up. All the same, though, I didn't take my eyes off her... except when she slapped the Doctor. I could only hope it had been deserved, because it had definitely _not_ looked fake.

Then – something more incandescent than anything I'd yet seen was appearing in front of me. Looking at it seared my eyes so badly that I almost felt like I was getting laser surgery again. I shielded my face with my hand and squinted as I followed all the other guests toward the light. Something was being carried by many short, grey-furred individuals with eyes that looked like swirling balls of smoke. I knew, without knowing how I knew it, that the something was very enticing, and I wanted it very, very badly.

I slowly made my way through the crowd, inching closer to the the front, a task made easier by the fact that much of the company didn't want to be near me. The purple-skinned people, in particular, seemed to find me extremely distasteful. None of that was even remotely important to me, though. The only two people who mattered in this room were at the front, standing next to a woman wearing a shade of yellow so painfully neon that it almost didn't qualify as yellow. She also had purple skin, but she seemed to tolerate the Doctor just fine, although I noticed that she never pointed her face, or what I presumed to be her nose, toward River.

The woman near the table where the burningly bright object had been laid had started to speak, and I tried to pay attention to what she was saying, but something was distracting me. Some sort of strange sensation, a feeling that I couldn't place... my thoughts were trying to float away. But I'd experienced dissociation before, and I fought against it as I tried to focus.

“... best treat since my own dear father's tenth annual gathering, may he rest in plutonium.”

The audience around me murmured.

“And now, without further ado, I present to you... dessert.”

All in one fluid motion, as if practicing a particularly dazzling sort of dance with props, the servers lifted the sun-like object.

*

“Is it just me, or is it getting hot in here?” River asked.

“Not now, River! The hostess is explaining the treat,” the Doctor said, waving a hand at her as he focused intently on Wijesa. She noticed, though, with some growing pleasure, that the Doctor hadn't yet let go of her with his other hand, which he'd ordinarily have done long before now. When something fascinated him this much it was almost impossible to keep physical contact with him. Yet here he was, still holding onto her, and he...

He was stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

She breathed in sharply, although he didn't notice. He was too busy taking in the florid spectacle of the servers lifting up the tray. That thumb was moving back and forth on her hand, though, and River was...

Well, what River was doing was getting decidedly aroused.

She used her other hand to fan at her face, which was starting to bead with sweat, even as the Doctor pulled her nearer the treats. All around her, she could hear the many alien species buzz and chirp and howl and varieties thereof as they excitedly examined the displays, then touched them, taking samples of the goodies for themselves. Some stayed to read the placards, but most didn't linger for long. In fact, it seemed to River as if many of them were starting to move very closely together... unusually close, especially for a party where one wrong touch could lead to dismemberment.

River shook her head, trying to maintain her sense of objectivity even as another thread of very disproportionate pleasure flowed through her as the Doctor's thumb caressed her skin.

All at once she heard a familiar whirring sound, and she turned toward the Doctor, eyes flashing as she looked at the screwdriver he'd pulled from his pocket.

“Doctor!” she hissed. “You know you're not supposed to have that here!”

“Yes, dear, I'm quite aware,” he said vaguely. His hand was moving against hers in an almost massage-like motion now, as he slowly circled his thumb toward her pulse point. He was brandishing the screwdriver quite floridly with the other hand, which surprised her, because he knew quite well he could be disemboweled on the spot by several of the species present if they saw him with it. However, it seemed like everyone else was just as distracted as she was starting to become.

“So... why do you have it?” The question came out slowly, stupidly. What was wrong with her? She shook her head again, this time causing several curls to come loose from their updo.

“There's something not quite right about these treats,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I wanted to study the chemical and quantum composition of them, to try and figure out what makes them so unforgettable. But nothing about them seems unusual except... except...”

“Except what?”

“Except something I can't remember!” he said, hitting himself with the same hand he was holding the screwdriver in. River heard a clunk against his forehead.

“Right. Screwdriver. Ow.”

“Might want to be more careful with that. You'll accidentally fry an eyeball one of these days.” But something else was happening even as she bantered with him. The Doctor's hand had slipped from hers, and she'd almost begun a sound of protest when she realized that the hand was moving up her forearm in a _very_ seductive way. She couldn't help herself – she moaned, just a little bit. It had been such a long time since they'd had any physical contact, and she was so incredibly turned on at this moment, and...

_What in the galaxies was happening_?

“River.”

“Yes, my love?” She looked up at him with something akin to delirium.

“My hand.”

“Yes.”

“It's moving up your arm.”

“I noticed.” River pressed herself into him as the hand continued its trail upward. She moaned again, closed-mouthed this time.

“Why am I moving my hand up your arm?” All at once he stopped the motion, and River couldn't help a frustrated exhale. “And why does my stopping bother you so much?”

He was giving her _that_ look, the one that meant trouble, and it broke through some sort of barrier in her mind.

“You've got that face.”

“This is connected. I _know_ it is. Hands don't just travel up other people's arms.”

“I was rather fancying you were doing it because you like me.”

“River!” The Doctor turned to her. “This is not the time or place.”

“Right.” _Didn't seem like that a second ago, Sweetie_.

“There's something wrong here, but I'm not seeing it. I can't see it! My mind isn't working. It won't...” he trailed off.

“What is it, darling?” River put her hand back into his, gripping it tightly, and he automatically squeezed her hand in response. She found herself running her own fingers along his palm, then up his own arm in much the same manner that he'd done to her, teasingly making tiny swirls across his skin with her fingers...

“River! Stop that!” He batted her off, with an injured look that was far too put-on to be legitimate.

She examined his expression for a moment, then chuckled. “Oh, sweetie, when are you going to learn that you can't hide from me?”

“Can't hide. Can't hide! That's it! That has something to do with all this too. And the hands! Think, brain, _think..._ ”

A piece of the dessert was resting in the Doctor's other palm now. On the surface it was like a glowing miniature banana, complete with peel and stem; it looked utterly delicious, and smelled even better. It made all of River's senses tingle. And yet... something about it _was_ off, now that she was paying more attention. Something about the way it smelled. _What is it about tonight and things that smell wrong?_

She tugged at the doctor's arm, suddenly remembering what she'd been trying to talk about before all this had begun.

“Doctor. That human woman.”

“What woman? Wait, did you say _human_?”

“Yes. It's what I was going to tell you earlier...”

But River stopped talking as she finally got a glimpse of Marissa again. She was coming toward them, fast. Coming straight toward the Doctor...

*

When the lids were lifted, the first thing I was conscious of was the heavenly smell.

It was monumental, delectable, mind-blowing... there weren't enough adjectives to properly describe it. Other people had crowded the tables before I'd gotten a chance to move, though, and I found myself growing incredibly agitated as I waited for a small eternity. At long last there was an opening, near people who didn't seem completely revolted by me, and I stepped forward, eager to see what was in the containers.

“What the heck? _Bananas?_ ”

Yet there they were. Tiny bananas, or close enough to the Earth shape and color to call it a banana. But that smell, and the way they were almost florescent... they were nothing like any bananas I'd ever seen. I felt myself flushing hot, and a strange but very nice tingling sensation began making its way over my skin. I licked my lips.

The fruit was calling to me.

I stared for a second longer, then picked up one of the bananas close to me. Holding it in my hand made me gasp: it was vibrating gently, its hum spreading all through my body with another wave of pleasure.

_This is wrong. Something is wrong._

I stroked the fruit with a finger, shuddering as I did it. Each touch made me feel better and better: it as almost as if someone beginning to move their fingers over all the most sensitive places on my body. Every hair on my arms was standing on end, and there was some serious blood flow making its way to the center of my body. Everything between my belly button and thighs was becoming incredibly hot.

I brought the fruit to my lips. Put my tongue on the outer flesh. A grunt pulled itself from my vocal cords without any conscious effort as the heat between my legs intensified.

_Holy shit, what_ is _this? How is it doing this?_

I could feel a flush starting all over my face and upper body, and my forehead was beading with sweat. My nipples were starting to react, too: the friction of my bra and dress against my skin was a delicious but maddening sort of itch. I knew, without knowing how I knew it, that the only way to get rid of any of these feelings was to eat the banana.

_One bite can't hurt... can it?_

I carefully peeled open the top. The scent was stronger now – so much stronger. Pleasure was starting to flow in waves all through me, more than enough to drive me completely wild. Right now, that fruit looked like the best thing in the universe.

Very carefully, I took a bite of it. Chewed. Swallowed. The taste was incredible. It was as if every dream I'd ever had was exploding in my mouth all at once, turning itself into sensuality that was sizzling and aching and wonderful.

_What's going on?_

But my own common sense was being drowned out by a multitude of sensations. There was joy, now... so much of it, along with the intense arousal coursing through every part of my body. I wanted to share it all – help give someone else that same pleasure. That, and fulfill all the desires making themselves known in my brain.

All at once I caught sight of the Doctor, and my vision focused so directly on him that it was as if I'd been sped into a tunnel. I fairly zoomed across the floor, despite wearing heels that were a little too tall for my own comfort, and despite the fact that until now I'd been far too nervous to go anywhere near him, much less talk to him.

I only vaguely noticed someone else standing next to him as I got close enough to touch his face.

*

“Doctor,” Marissa said, running her fingers tenderly along the Doctor's cheekbone, and then his jawline. “It's so lovely to see you. Truly phenomenal.”

“Er, have we met before?” The Doctor was getting flail-y, as he tended to do when being touched when he wasn't expecting it, but he wasn't pulling back, either. His feet, for one, had moved not a millimeter. River felt a mad rush of jealousy, even as she reached down and tightly grasped his hand once more.

“No, but it's about time we got acquainted, don't you think?”

Then Marissa grabbed him and pulled him into a very deep kiss.

 


	2. The smell of you is sex... the thought of you is cream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor finally figures out what's going on, and it isn't good news. However, the solution might be far more pleasurable than any of them could have imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title taken from "Scream" by Berlin.

My tongue had already entered the Doctor's mouth before I realized what I was doing – with my brain, not just my body. I pulled away, stepping back and covering my mouth in shock. The Doctor was simply looking stunned, touching his lips and tongue with his fingertips. Then something strange came alive in his eyes.

“Kissing. It spreads by kissing.”

“What spreads by kissing?” That was River Song, who was looking at me none too kindly. I didn't blame her one bit... I'd just snogged her husband, after all. But I was starting to lose my grip on rational thought again, because, holy hell. _River Fucking Song._

My eyes raked down her figure of their own accord, taking in every part of her – the collarbones with one tiny kissable mole, the dress that cut so teasingly low, the immaculate waist. Desire pulsed through every inch of my being. I pictured touching her face, her neck, her skin... kissing those lips...

_No. You cannot touch her. You_ cannot _touch River Song. **Do not fucking touch her.**_

Even as I thought it, my right hand began reaching for her; I didn't realize it had moved till it was almost at her face. I stared at it, horrified, then did the only thing I could think of... I pulled it behind my back and held it there with the other. I squeezed my hands together, and when they started trying to separate of their own accord, I gripped them so tightly it was painful, digging my nails into my wrists for good measure. _ Do not move. Don't even look at her. Don'tdon'tdon't._

River was suddenly paying attention to what my hands and arms were doing. “Doctor, why did she kiss you? What's going on?”

The Doctor had been holding up one of the samples of dessert, scanning it with his sonic screwdriver, but now he snapped it shut and turned toward her.

“River. Get out your handcuffs.”

*

“What?”

“I know you have them. You need to cuff her. She's human, right? But she smells like some other time, some other dimension. She's an interloper... she isn't supposed to be here. And she just ate the fruit of the Delkians, which means you need to restrain her RIGHT NOW before she infects you.”

“Infects me with _what_?” But she was already pulling a set of cuffs from her bag. River was starting to smell sex pheromones rising off Marissa's skin – and if they were within River's detection threshold, they were incredibly strong indeed. Now she understood why Marissa had kissed him.

“Marissa,” River said. “Straighten up and keep your hands behind your back.”

“What are you going to do to me?” A very husky tone, for such a high-voiced woman. River cleared her throat.

“I'm cuffing you. Don't move.”

“This is a little bit kinky coming from you, isn't it, River?”

“For shame.” Despite herself, River couldn't help the teasing tone in her voice, even as she set the cuffs with a small _click_. “Now turn around and look at us.”

Marissa turned. Her pupils were massively dilated, and a distinct line of sweat had developed in the middle of her forehead. The Doctor immediately began scanning her with his sonic, then turned the sonic on his mouth and down his body. Then he scanned River. Studied the readings for a few moments.

“Delkian larvae,” he said, clicking the screwdriver shut. “That's what's in this fruit. And that's what makes it unforgettable.”

“I've never heard of the Delkians,” River said.

“Distant relatives of the Trilezians. They reproduce by stimulating the production of sex hormones in other species. Almost any kind of land-dwelling animal will do, but sentient races are the best, because they generally know how best to pleasure themselves. The more satisfaction the host feels, the healthier the teeny tiny maggoty little babies will be.”

“Which get inside you when you eat the fruit.” River was watching Marissa, dismayed, as the woman sank to the floor, pulling on the unforgiving metal with all her might even as she fought to make her body stay still. Clearly River had gotten the handcuffs on just in time.

“Or they can be transmitted through certain body fluids. Primarily, saliva and blood.”

“But, Doctor... she just kissed you.” River looked horrified.

“Yes. Well. That might be a bit of a problem.” The Doctor touched his lips again, and River saw a shudder go through him.

“She's producing an incredible amount of sexual pheromones,” he continued, studying her a little too closely for River's liking. “You may be noticing some of the effects. We've both been feeling it since the fruit was brought in, but it got far stronger once the others started eating them and producing their own phere–”

He trailed off, a sudden look of alarm crossing his face.

“We need to leave. Now.”

“Doctor?” River was already pulling Marissa up from the ball she'd curled herself into on the floor, where she'd been trying to put as much pressure on herself as possible. River's fingers brushed ever so slightly against Marissa's skin, and a sudden thrill went through River's body. Marissa moaned loudly at the touch, struggling against her bonds again.

“All these people – they're not going to be able to help themselves. They'll probably start having sex very soon. In fact...” The Doctor looked around him as though for the first time, and suddenly squinted his eyes, looking faintly disgruntled. “I could have lived without seeing the mating habits of Goelans.”

He turned back toward her, his coattails snapping with the quickness of the motion. “But seriously, River, think about it. What happens when species like the Trilezians get intimate?”

“A feast.” River's eyes widened in fear. Feasts of that caliber were always preceded by a large, public butchering event.

“Let's go.”

The three of them began to stumble their way between pairs and groups of people toward the exit, River keeping a firm hand in the middle of Marissa's handcuffs as she steered her. Amazing how difficult it was not to let the woman's skin accidentally graze her again, even with Marissa continuing to pull at the cuffs as hard as she could against the two-inch bar of steel between her wrists. It wouldn't do to get distracted... not if River wanted to get out of here with her head and body still attached to each other.

“River.” Incredible sexual energy was continuing to pour out of Marissa, and even the way she said River's name was thick with sensuality.

“What is it? Is something wrong?”

“You know what's wrong.” This last wasn't said was the bold forthrightness Marissa had so far displayed. Instead, hunched in on herself as she was, trembling, pouring forth more and more pheromones by the minute, she seemed guilty. Ashamed, even.

“I know how this is affecting you.” She and the Doctor were avoiding contact with the other guests as much as they could, but the room was so packed that they couldn't help brushing people, and each person they touched was releasing their own particular kind of sexual energy. Some species were far more powerful than others, as River had discovered when she bumped into a particularly large, hot pink Yrmoltie man. She had nearly doubled over at the force of it – a wave of passion and desire so crushing that its departure could only be called a blessing.

“No, I don't think you do. Not the half of it. River, I need someone to... touch... to be with...”

“We have to get to the TARDIS first. We can figure all this out when we get there.”

“No!” Marissa wrenched herself from River's grasp, which wasn't an easy feat, especially in handcuffs. River stopped abruptly, as did the Doctor. He was watching them with unusual intensity.

“I have to _do_ something. I can't take this anymore. It's like torture...”

“River,” the Doctor said, gently. “Tell her you'll help her in the TARDIS.”

“Will I?” She gave the Doctor a coy smile, and he grinned mischievously, his eyes full of devilry and promise. River felt a strong, hot tug in her groin.

“I don't mind if you don't. But I can't promise not to watch.”

“Doctor... are you sure...” Marissa was still struggling against the bonds as she walked nearer the two of them, and all of a sudden her bare arm was touching River's. Both of them moaned at the same time.

“Shit.” Marissa closed her eyes, a new sheen of perspiration breaking out across her forehead.

“Yes, I'm sure,” the Doctor said, still with a cocky grin on his face. “In fact, I might feel like helping you out myself.”

“Doctor, you naughty boy.” River was beyond suppressing herself, especially with that pheromone-filled flesh pressing against her own. With effort she pulled herself away from the woman, who at least seemed slightly less agitated.

“More explanations in the TARDIS,” the Doctor said briskly. “We'll do something for you there, Marissa. Now GO!”

Marissa still hesitated, so River smiled at her. “Don't worry, sweetie. We'll take care of you.”

*

_She called me sweetie._

I was dripping with sweat by the time we made it into the door of the TARDIS, the three of us having just barely escaped several purple-skinned people trying to capture us. My wrists were getting raw from pulling so hard at the handcuffs, which were quite expertly set and therefore impossible to get out of, no matter how hard I struggled. Evidently River was skilled in their use. Probably for multiple reasons, many of which I had no trouble imagining in this state of mind. I allowed the thoughts to run rampant, hoping that the fantasies would do something to dispel some of the sensation, but they only made the feelings more intense. _Goddamn it._

“Doctor. Please. Help,” I said, panting as River Song led me toward a set of stairs next to the ship's core. I immediately bent over and pressed my stomach and chest into my legs, as hard as I could. The pressure seemed to help me maintain a tiny semblance of control. So did the rather strong pain coming from my wrists. I would use them both for as long as I could.

The Doctor used his screwdriver to input something into the TARDIS database, then stood and studied the readouts. After several extremely long and agonizing moments, he looked over at us.

“All right.” He clapped his hands together. “This state can only be resolved in one of two ways. Okay, three ways.”

“I'm guessing the third is less than desirable.” That was River Song, who had begun pacing around the TARDIS, showing off that incredible figure without even realizing she was doing it. _'She has no idea... the effect she can have.'_ My mind was completely in the gutter, and there was no use in trying to stop it, not if what the Doctor said was true – and I'd had no reason to doubt him so far.

“The first, and very much least desirable, option is that either no orgasm occurs in the host, or it is achieved alone. However, in both cases, the person's temperature will continue to rise until, eventually, the body burns itself up from the inside out.”

“That explains the sweat.”

“Yes.” The Doctor nodded. “And it's going to get worse. If we don't do something soon, she'll die.”

“Options two and three, please, because if I'm understanding this right, you could also die the same way.”

The Doctor smiled. “I assure you that I am in no way interested in dying today. Not ever, in fact. Oh, I can't stand this bloody _heat_ anymore!”

The Doctor began to move almost faster than my eyes could see; his suit coat was suddenly on the floor, followed by the bowtie. Then he undid the first few of buttons of his dress shirt at a pace closer to normal, which I watched with hungry eyes. River Song reached over to him, wiping sweat from his brow with her fingers. He swallowed hard, pulling at his shirt collar again, and River flushed deeply, her chest heaving as she quickly wiped her hand on her dress. Anytime she touched one of us she felt the effects, but not as strongly as we did. Because we were infected and she wasn't.

_I would have infected her if the Doctor hadn't stopped me._

“Option two. Orgasm is achieved by having sex with someone else.”

“Obvious solution,” River noted.

“Too obvious. We already know that hormones created during sex are what they use to feed the babies. Once the infected person reaches orgasm, the larvae inside begin to feed on the host body. It starts with gobbling up all the sexual hormones, but it doesn't stop there. They eat through every other hormone in the body, and then every organ, every bone... every last particle of organic matter is consumed.”

River frowned. “I thought you said only one of them was far less than desirable.”

“Well, it's possible that I could figure out how to extract the larvae before they eat us alive, but with the way this is progressing... well, rational thought is going to become much more difficult soon. In far less time than I probably need.”

“So that isn't an option, either.”

“Well, it is, but only if you want it to be considerably more likely that we do die.”

A spike of searing heat surged through me, and my torso clenched as I groaned in pain. The Doctor looked at me sharply.

“It's getting worse. River... go to her. Put your hand on her skin. Any sort of touch will do for now. Until we have a plan, she needs someone to be in physical contact with her to slow down the burning.” A pause, and then: “Please. We can't let her die like this.”

They shared a short, significant look before River Song walked toward me, smiling down at me again. The sight of her would have taken my breath away if I hadn't already been so breathless from the pain.

“May I sit down?” Almost demure, for River, but at this point it made no difference. I shifted over as quickly as I could, and she sat down next to me on the steps, then reached out her hand and touched my arm.

_Oh. My. GOD._

The volume of the moan that came out of me was embarrassing. I only became slightly less embarrassed when River let out a groan, too, albeit a much quieter one. The intensity of my arousal was overwhelming, although the pain was subsiding now that her skin was against mine.

“So this is how you feel,” River said after a moment. It sounded like she was clenching her teeth. Trying to tolerate being next to me, maybe? I didn't know.

“You have no idea. The burning...”

“So then there's option three,” the Doctor continued, as if there'd been no interruption at all. “Orgasm is achieved by the infected person having sex with someone they truly love.”

In my peripheral vision I saw River blink. Without even thinking, I pushed my arm deeper into her hand. Another small moan escaped me. I needed more. So much moremoremore.

“What? What does that mean?” River asked.

“According to the database, the effect of loving someone, truly loving them, during the sexual act somehow makes the hormones incompatible with the offspring. Research into the exact mechanism was never finished. It was a cure, and the people who survived didn't question it very closely.”

“So that would make the larvae starve?”

“More like poisoning the milk. They start to eat, but before they can get very far, their bodies are flooded with the altered hormones and they die. The person's system then passes them the same way it would pass any other waste.”

“Love is the answer.” River became thoughtful. “But doesn't that mean...”

The Doctor nodded. I looked at him, then back at River. Clearly I was missing something.

“What?”

“Well, the two of us... we're married,” River began.

“I know that,” I said, chuckling despite myself. “Believe me, I know.” Then another wave of agonizing arousal overwhelmed me, and before I could stop myself, I was moving my shoulder so that it bumped into hers, my head tilting down toward her skin.

“Not enough touch? Might as well get cozy, then.” She shuffled a bit, and a moment later I was aware of an exquisite shiver all down my body as River carefully fitted her entire right arm to my left, resting her palm near my still-cuffed hands. My groan was even louder this time, but I felt better once she'd settled into me – and gratified as I felt her shudder against me.

“So, are _you_ in a relationship?” It came out, I was quite sure, much more seductively than she'd intended. My wrists strained themselves against the handcuffs once more. I wanted so badly to touch her properly, enfold her, caress her...

“No.”

“Well, then, is there someone you're in love with? Someone who might be willing to assist?”

I couldn't help it... I grinned. Broadly. Right at the Doctor. In fact, I beamed.

“There _is_ someone,” the Doctor said. He began to flip switches on the console. “Who is it? What date, what place? Come on, then. I need coordinates!”

“Doctor,” I said slowly. “The date is now, and the place... it's right here.”

I turned my head toward River, and, very slowly, she turned to look back at me. She peered at me questioningly, and then, as she caught on, with disbelief. She began shaking her head.

“You _can't_ be serious. Marissa, you don't even know me. And as attracted to me as you might be, sexual desire isn't going to be enough to save your life. Have you even been listening?”

“Yes, I have. And I do know you... Melody Pond,” I said softly. “You're Amy and Rory's daughter. Part Time Lord, part human. Born to kill the Doctor – only you didn't kill him. Instead, you used all your regeneration energy to heal him from the poison you were brainwashed into giving him. The truth, River, is that you were never _born_ to kill him at all. You were born because your parents loved each other. Trying to kill the Doctor... that wasn't something you actually wanted. It was something that was inflicted on you.”

I pressed myself harder into her, and she put her other hand on my arm, turning toward me more as she looked into my face. Even as a tsunami of hormones surged through me again with the increased contact, River's green eyes cut clearly through my vision under the TARDIS lights. There was something in them that I couldn't quite place.

“You're beautiful, and brave, and incredibly clever,” I continued. “Funny. Daring. Never lacking confidence or strength of will.” I paused. “But, more than all that... you're compassionate. To your core, River Song, you are _good_. I don't know if you ever hate yourself for what you tried to do to the Doctor, but that wasn't _you_. Hell, he wouldn't even be here if you hadn't done the things you did. You _saved_ him, just as surely as he saved you.”

I paused, trying to gather the rest of my thoughts.

“You're the sort of woman I always dreamed about, but never, ever imagined I'd actually meet in real life, much less ever get to be with in any way. Of course, I know that your true love is, and always has been, the Doctor. I don't think there's ever been anyone else... not anyone you loved the way you love him. I'd never even try to compete against that, and I definitely don't expect you to reciprocate my feelings. But I do... love you, River Song. For whatever that's worth.”

When I finally managed to look up, River's eyes were surprisingly serious, and she squeezed me just a tiny bit harder, then began idly stroking my arm with her free hand. It was more like she was petting me than caressing me, but even so, I couldn't help the rather large groan that came from me. River exhaled loudly before she spoke.

“You do know me.” She said it quietly. “I don't understand how that's possible.”

Despite what I could see was the Doctor's own growing infection – the sweat beads getting larger on his forehead, and the fact that he'd been standing far too long in one place, hidden just behind the TARDIS engine – he had been totally focused on my and River's conversation, not even trying to come near. But now he moved from behind it, looking at her intensely.

“There are some ways she may know you even better than you know yourself. Melody Pond, the woman who saved the Doctor.” For the first time that night, I saw him truly smile.

River looked over at him and smiled back, eyes glittering as she contemplated him. After what felt like an eternity, she looked at me again.

“Well, I think that just about does it,” she said teasingly.

I blinked.

“What I mean is... well, if you really do love me,” she said, hesitatingly, as if she was unsure of the words in her mouth, “this should work quite well. I'm just going to assume that you have sexual experience, but if you don't, please tell us. We'll need to work around that.”

“It's been quite some time, but, no, I'm not exactly a virgin.” I was still blinking, almost not comprehending. Was this really going to happen?

All at once I doubled over again with a grunt. _Fire._ It was eating me up inside. The pain was becoming horrifying.

“Okay, River. Handcuffs off, now.” The Doctor did the small half-turn he often did while planning. “Then we'll all retreat to... well, where do you want to go?”

“Surely you have a room somewhere with a sensible bed. It can't all be bunk beds.” She paused, looking at him. “ _Please_ tell me you have something that isn't bunk beds.”

He sighed. “I may have created a king sized bed or two after considerable protests from your parents.”

River smiled delightedly. “In that case...”

She stood me up and turned me around, keeping skin contact the whole time, albeit unevenly. Even so, I could hear her sharp intakes of breath with each new motion as she put the key into the locks and released the pieces of metal holding me in. I pulled my hands in front of me and looked at my wrists, wincing. River's bare arm almost immediately draped itself over my shoulders, and without thinking I nestled into her, sighing softly. Her breathing had turned positively ragged. _Ah, the effect this can have on_ you _, River Song..._

“Allow me.” The Doctor stepped forward, putting his fingertips on my wrists. That touch, too, brought a mass of sexual energy forward, and all three of us groaned simultaneously. After a moment, little glows of yellow flowed into the raw, oozing skin, healing it almost instantly.

“Doctor!” River's voice held clear and unmistakable objection.

“We don't have time to let them heal naturally, and unwanted pain might interfere. I don't want to take chances.”

The Doctor held onto me a moment longer, and I couldn't help reaching up to brush the sweat from his forehead, just the way River had. “You really are getting too hot, aren't you? You may be a Time Lord, but you're not invincible.”

“No, I'm not. Nor am I invulnerable to the pulls of sexuality, as River knows far too well.” He smiled at her, and she rewarded him with an impish grin. I felt an unbelievable longing for her. The Doctor looked down at me, and I could see him calculating. Then, all at once, he clapped excitedly.

“Come, ladies. The bed chamber awaits!”

He may or may not have thrown his shirt onto the TARDIS floor before he walked, River clutching him tightly on her other side, toward a room that contained a very large, very luxurious bed. And I may or may not have really, really enjoyed watching the Doctor's sweat-soaked chest and torso move as we traveled to our destination.


	3. Scream for me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two words: gratuitous smut.

The moment we got to the bedroom, the Doctor wiped his brow, which was breaking out in even more sweat. He was also starting to have the same trouble I'd had in keeping his hands to himself. We were both straining toward River, even as we tried to hold ourselves back.

“Right. Plan.” The Doctor still sounded like himself, at least. “We each need to receive the first orgasm from the partner we truly love. So, in both our cases... River.”

“Well, that works out easily.” River again. She grinned widely, and I smiled at the look on her face.

“You are enjoying this way too much,” I said.

“Incredibly too much.”

She turned toward me, and I took in a sharp breath as she put her hands on my face and kissed me.

I couldn't think... could barely breathe. All the passion and energy that had been building since I'd eaten that fruit began storming through me. I kissed her back hard, making up very, very thoroughly for lost time. And although she'd started out with some vague hesitation, by the end of it she was kissing me just as intensely as I was kissing her.

I pulled back, then my mouth dropped open with shock as I realized what we'd just done.

“River...”

“I know. I'm infected now, too. I think it's about time I experienced what's got you both so hot and bothered that you can barely keep your hands off me.” Her eyes were dancing with laughter.

“Are you sure that's the only reason you kissed me?” I was so close to her that I could have counted her eyelashes. She reached up to cup my cheek, and I put both my hands in that magnificent hair, relishing the feel of her curls against my fingers.

“Oh, lovely. I think you know the answer to that.”

This time it was me who kissed her first.

It was obvious, by the time we'd finished, that the creatures had fully invaded her system, too. The kiss had become deeper and more desperate, and she was panting, sweat glistening all over her body. She was so incredibly sexy that I could almost have come just from watching her in this state. But that wasn't how this was going to work. Not the first time.

_Patience._

“Doctor.” River turned, then, and grabbed him, pulling him into her. “It's your turn.”

She kissed him, then, with far more ferocity than she had kissed me – a ferocity he had no hesitation about returning. As I watched the two of them, it was incredibly arousing, but something about it also made me just the tiniest bit sad. I could so clearly see the love that bound the two of them together... I couldn't help wanting a little of it for myself. On the other hand, as they continued I could feel the sexual energy and heat in the room increase tenfold, and it was driving me crazy.

When they finally broke apart. River grinned that wicked grin again.

“This has been getting to you far more than you've been letting on, sweetie.” She moved her hips unabashedly against his crotch, and he moaned more loudly than I'd thought he was capable of.

“River,” he said in a hushed voice. “I think... this is going to be more intense than anything we've ever done before.”

“I'm starting to get that impression,” she said, then looked at me. She crooked her finger, and I took the step or two to close the gap between us. River immediately pulled me in so that the three of us touched at the same time. We all groaned, and then she looked at us both in turn, sweat and sex radiating off her as if she was a small sun. “In fact, I think it's going to be more intense than anything any of us has ever done. Don't you?”

The Doctor pulled River into another kiss... and then River surprised me by moving her hands to the back of my dress. One tug on its zipper had it dangling from my hips; another tug sent it sliding to the floor. River then quite skilfully removed the wireless bra underneath, carelessly flinging it to the side. It was clear that she'd been with women before, something I would have guessed anyway, judging by her complete lack of self-consciousness about being sexual with me.

The Doctor was now kissing his way down River's body, undoing her dress and undergarments as he went. She was shuddering under his touch even as I went in for another kiss, which she returned readily. Her hands were all over my face, my hair... and then my neck. My shoulders. Her own dress fell down into a heap on the floor, leaving her in nothing but a pair of very sexy underwear.

“Oh, yes,” she called out, as he started to move lower on her abdomen. I wished it was me making her cry out with such passion, but I knew it couldn't be. It had to be him first, or else she would die, and all of this would be for nothing. _No one dies today._

She caught my mouth up in another kiss, and her hands continued their slow swirls downward until she finally reached my breasts, cupping her hands around them. I arched into her hands, moaning loudly as she began to caress me with definite expertise. At the same time, River was also moaning, because the Doctor was nearly at her sex, and I knew from the way I felt myself that the moment someone touched me down there I was very likely to explode.

“Doctor...” River gasped.

“Yes, sweetie?” His voice was full of lust. I knew that he, too, would be on the verge of being totally unable to control himself. I could tell that all three of us were so painfully aroused that our first orgasms would happen quickly.

“If you don't fuck me right now, I am going to hit you so hard that you smash into a wall at the other end of the universe.”

“That sounds rather interesting.” River made a noise of frustration, but he was grinning. “However, I'm far more interested in you right now, River Song.”

He began undoing his trousers. At that precise moment, River put her mouth on one of my nipples, and I nearly lost my mind.

“If you don't want me to come right now, you need to go more gently into that good night.”

“Someone is sensitive,” she said, tracing a line between my breasts with her finger. “How do you expect me to resist all this exquisite flesh?”

“Oh, come on.” My self-consciousness was somehow managing to break through all the crazy arousal.

She looked up at me, scoffing in disbelief. “Don't tell me you're going to start pitying yourself.”

“River Song, with you making love to me, it isn't possible for me to pity myself.” She circled a nipple with her thumb and forefinger, then leaned down and gently took it into her teeth, suckling it. I cried out, only speaking again when I'd been able to recover a little.

“It's just... me, exquisite? River, I'm covered in scars. Not to mention the stretch marks and cellulite and all those other lovely things. Meanwhile... look at you.” My eyes roamed hungrily over all the body parts I could see, which was quite a lot of them. “You are so fucking perfect that it's unbelievable.”

“Honey, if you knew all the different bodies I've been with, you'd know that any imperfections you have aren't half of what I've seen on other people. Your body is your body, and right now I'm finding it extremely arousing. Doctor, _why_ aren't you fucking my brains out yet?”

“This damn zipper. It won't open,” he said vehemently. I couldn't help myself... I started to laugh.

“Leave it to you!” I said.

“What's that supposed to mean?” he said in obvious frustration. But River was chuckling, too, even as her nipples were hardening more just from watching him struggle with his fly.

After a few more seconds, though, River sighed, then looked at me. “Excuse me, love. I've got to take care of my husband.” She left a kiss on my brow before she went to the Doctor and, in one swift and well-practiced motion, ripped the fly of the trousers wide open. Her next movements divested him of his underwear, too, and his erection sprang free.

“River! That was my best suit!”

“You needed out of it.” Her voice had dropped about an octave, and she was looking at him as though he was a god.

 _This_ was the nature of her desire. This was how she felt for him. Maybe I couldn't be the recipient, but at least I could see how she really was, with the Doctor, in all her sexual glory and full of her deepest love.

“I can't argue with that.” Then: “River, no, don't touch.” She had been precariously close to dropping to her knees.

“Doctor.” The voice was becoming a whine, an unusual sound from the normally confident-beyond-words River Song.

“Are you ready for me, sweetie?” he asked, in a husky voice I'd never heard. And slid off her underwear.

Just seeing her there, standing completely and gloriously naked in front of me for the first time, was one of the most maddeningly hot things I'd beheld in my entire life. As for the Doctor, he was so swollen and red that I was surprised he hadn't come already. He truly looked like one touch from River might have finished him.

He was the one who knelt, then, and put his face right by her cunt. Then dove in.

Her moans turned into cries – loud ones. I'd known she hadn't been kidding when she said she was a screamer, but I hadn't been prepared for this sort of volume. On the other hand, the amount of hormones raging inside all of us right now was off the charts. Maybe she was going to scream more now than she ever had in her life. The thought made me shiver with delight, and made my arousal hotter.

In fact, I was getting a bit too hot.

“Guys, I really hate to break this up, but...” I wiped yet more sweat off my forehead.

“All right. Time to arrange ourselves properly.” The Doctor's tone was still sensual, and far more arousing than I'd expected. “How are we going to do this?”

“Well, the way I see it, there's only one position that's going to work easily,” I said. “I don't have a lot of stamina. I'm going to have to be on bottom.”

The Doctor nodded, and River just grinned that wicked grin.

“Please, both of you, come here,” I said. “I need you.” The heat inside me was increasing, and sweat was coating far too many parts of my body. I could tell the pain wasn't far off. I needed River back.

“So impatient.” That was River, of course – but she was walking over even as she said it. I moved to the head of the bed, laying on my back, as River moved herself over me.

"There's just one more thing to take care of," River said, and her eyes gleamed as she hooked her fingers into the top of my panties. My breath hitched as I lifted myself up just enough for her to slide them down my legs.

A moment later, I was startled to see her come so far forward that her face hovered right above my own.

“How on Earth are you going to screw the Doctor if you start all the way up here?”

“Let's put it this way... we have practice with these sorts of maneuvers.” Then she turned back, looking at the Doctor, who was getting up on the bed, positioning himself behind the kneeling River Song. He was wiping another trail of sweat off his head and neck. A bead of liquid fell onto my forehead, and I saw that River's perspiration was beginning to take her over, too.

“We're all far too hot,” I said. It came out so low that it was practically a whisper. “We need to turn this heat down once and for all.”

“If my husband is ready, so am I.” The Doctor had positioned himself outside her opening, only his tip touching her, but already he was swallowing hard. I could tell he was having trouble controlling himself. He'd been infected for almost as long as me, and I was almost beyond the brink. I could only imagine the trouble he must be having at this moment.

“Ahh!” River's cry was almost a scream when he entered her. His own cry was just as loud.

“River...” I looked straight into her eyes, reaching for her hair again and moaning despite myself at the contact.

I didn't need to say it twice. She leaned down and kissed me again, and her hands almost immediately found their way back to my breasts. Her fondling was rough now – almost wild. Ordinarily I wouldn't have been particularly fond of roughness, but I'd been building up for so long that it felt like the sweetest relief I could imagine, and I pushed myself further into her hands. Meanwhile, River had broken our kiss to scream again.

“Go harder, my love,” she called back forcefully. “As hard as you can. Fuck me with every particle of that amazing cock.”

The sound of even her mild dirty talk only made me more aroused. I knew I was so wet that I was beginning to drip at this point, which was definitely not usual for me. Probably another side effect. But I was beyond caring.

“River. I need you lower. Fuck me.”

It was a whisper, guttural, full of raw passion. And the response was equally as passionate. Not in words, but in the slow, sensual kisses and caresses downward from my breasts, coming closer and closer to my cunt, where absolutely everything was hot and throbbing.

Even as she moved down my body, River screamed. Louder, then louder again. Combined with the sensations she was giving me, it was almost driving me to the brink.

“I love hearing you scream,” I said, my voice breathy.

“I'll be sure to do it as often as possible.” The smile, again... then her fingers were rubbing the insides of my thighs.

“River!!” I arched back. Even that touch was almost too much.

River tossed her head back and screamed again, then uttered a round of extremely hot expletives. The Doctor was alternately breathing very, very hard and groaning. Most of his noise was groaning now, which wasn't a surprise considering how hard and fast he was moving. The man had stamina. I had to take a moment to admire it, just as River was taking a moment to revel in her own pleasure, and then...

Her tongue. On my clit.

It was my turn to cry out voluminously.

“Well, well, well. It seems we have another screamer,” River said delightedly. “I do love a good scream or ten during sex. The Doctor here isn't quite loud enough to satisfy that craving.”

“Believe me,” I said in between heavy breaths, “I will more than make up for it.”

“I can't wait.” She lowered her mouth to my cunt again, then began screaming into my lips at the same time from her own pleasure, which created an incredibly erotic buzzing sensation. She was practically throwing herself back against the Doctor now as they slammed together with tremendous force.

A yell escaped me. Another. Oh, God, this was going to be massive. I got the impression that the same would happen with my two partners below.

“River...” It was the Doctor this time. “I can't hold back much longer.”

“A little help, then, darling?” The Doctor shifted forward and moved his hand to her nub, and then she was crying out into my flesh. The feel of the vibrations was incredible, but she was going into her own cloud of euphoria, so close to her breaking point that I could see it on her face. She raised her head to look at me, with a desperation I'd never seen before.

“Marissa, I can't...”

“It's okay,” I said. “I want to watch.”

She didn't answer – just tipped her head back as she dug both hands into the bed covers, _hard_.

She was the first to come of the three of us, though I had the suspicion that the Doctor had been precariously close. As it was, the absolute loudest, most intense scream I had ever heard escaped her lips – and she kept screaming, for longer than I'd ever imagined someone could scream without breath.

Sometime during all of this the Doctor also came loudly, and even though he'd mostly stopped moving, he didn't stop River from slamming against him as she continued screaming out with pleasure.

When she finally began to come down, she flopped forward for a moment before she raised a hand to me and began to touch my outer lips again, this time with her fingers. I'd just been about to wipe a massive amount of sweat from my head when I felt her, and I arched into her again.

“Shit,” I breathed. “River, please, fuck me _now_. I can't stand this for another second.”

She lowered her mouth to my wetness, circling my incredibly swollen clit with her tongue, and I cried out, spreading my legs wider. Her tongue made its way slowly downward as she sucked and played with my outer lips, running a finger near my clit now and again but never touching it. I was about to shout with frustration when she slid her tongue inside my opening.

“River...” It came out as a cry and plea and benediction all in one. I was the one gripping the bed now, sensation rocketing through me as she used her tongue to explore deeply inside my entrance, swirling in and out and around. Her fingers slowly brushed against the side of my opening, and then, dripping with my juices, touched the nub and started making slow circles there. I could feel myself beginning to enter the same cloud of pleasure I'd seen River in, where nothing and no one else mattered but this.

“Scream for me,” she whispered hotly, then swiped her tongue roughly along my clit as she engulfed it with her mouth once more. I complied immediately and involuntarily, and I bucked against her, unable to help the movement of my hips as she licked and sucked again and again.

I had let my head tip backward, so I didn't notice that her hand had moved until I suddenly felt her fingertips at my entrance. I looked down, and my moan was absolutely obscene.

“Fuck, yes... go inside me...”

She dipped two fingers in my juices, then slowly, steadily inserted them inside me. I felt her crook them into one of the the sweetest spots I had as she ran her tongue over my clit; the combination made me scream bloody murder and grab her hair tightly in my hands. I was completely and utterly at her mercy now, and she knew it. I was riding a wave of pleasure so incredible that I hadn't known its like could possibly exist. My orgasm was going to be beyond earth-shattering.

“Come for me.” Her voice was low and husky, and she was putting her mouth back on me, and those fingers were moving inside me and rubbing with such force, and _Jesus fucking Christ...._

I came so hard that my vision turned black, my screams filling the room as an incredible flood of ecstasy crashed over me. It lasted for what seemed like forever: my peak kept coming back in waves, and each time it did my scream would begin all over again. I was writhing in the agony of all the pleasure, and almost floating out of my body with sheer joy.

Finally, at long last, when I began to come down for real, River looked up at me, smiling again. She hadn't stopped her ministrations for even a millisecond, and some of my wetness was still visible around her mouth as she continued to stimulate me with her fingers. When I hadn't screamed for several seconds in a row, she spoke.

“So, was it good for you?”

I looked at her incredulously, and after a few seconds she started laughing, harder than I'd ever seen her laugh before.

“The look on your face!” she said, once she was capable of speech again. “Oh, goodness. You are delicious. In more ways than one, in case that matters.” She drew a finger along the side of my slit, then looked straight into my eyes as she tasted it, winking.

“River Song, you... are... amazing.” Her strokes were becoming languid as she oh so skilfully drew the last part of the orgasm out as far as it could go, and I could feel every muscle relaxing. All traces of the horrible, burning fire had vanished into thin air.

“Do you...” She paused, then, and looked up at me as if she was afraid. “Do you feel better?” _Did you really love me enough for this to work?_

I nodded. “Yeah. I do.”

“Hello, beautiful women!” the Doctor said cheerfully as he strolled in out of nowhere, still completely naked, with his sonic screwdriver in hand. He waved it over River Song, then me, and finally back at himself, then nodded. He reached for a pocket that wasn't there to poke the screwdriver into, then reluctantly settled for a nearby dresser.

“Well, we're cured. The larvae are all incredibly and wonderfully dead.”

River, who had gotten up from between my legs while being scanned, was using the Doctor's pants and some kind of spray to clean herself. She looked at him, eyes slightly narrowed. “But?”

“But we still have abnormally high levels of basically every sex hormone there is. Count on being aroused again very, very soon.”

“You say that like it hasn't already happened.” River put a hand on one hip and looked at the Doctor, and the grin came back.

“Well...” The Doctor looked down at his cock, which was starting to become erect again. He ran his eyes over River's naked form, which made him stiffen even more.

“How about you, my love? Are you ready for another round?” River had turned back around, facing me again with that amazing body. Curves for days. Just behind her stood the Doctor, the tall, lanky form still somehow managing to have strength and confidence behind it.

I assessed myself... yes, something down there was waking up again. Quickly. And it would definitely need fixing.

I grinned. “Bring it on.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More smut to come...


	4. Adventures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The danger has passed, but hormones are still running high. As the threesome continues, River decides to bring a unique toy into the mix.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a really long chapter, but there was no good way to break it up.

“Now that we've exorcised the demons, what say we have a little more of an adventure?” That was River, of course. The three of us had temporarily sprawled out on the (extremely huge) bed, having first torn the outer bed covers off. They were going to need a serious cleaning.

“Adventure?” I said, raising an eyebrow at her. “What kind of adventure?”

“Oh, there are plenty of different sorts of adventures. We could start with something simple if you like.” I didn't miss her meaning.

“Well, I like vanilla sex, but that doesn't mean I'm not up for experimenting.”

“Oh, really?” River's voice had turned throaty and seductive. She had been lying on her back, with myself and the Doctor facing her on either end. Now she turned her head toward me, raising a hand and idly stroking the side of my breast. I sucked in a breath. “So do you have hard limits, then? Or soft ones?”

“I...” I swallowed, trying to remember that I had a brain and how to use it. “Well, no blindfolds. Or handcuffs. I know, I know,” I said, as River began looking disappointed. “I don't mind if you guys use them, but I can't stand the idea of being restrained and helpless like that.”

River nodded.

“I also tend to also stay away from anal in general.”

“You can't be serious,” River said, looking at me with a sort of horror. “No anal play? Isn't that a bit like sexual suicide?”

I bit my lip, then looked at the Doctor, trying very, very hard to hold in my grin and not quite succeeding. “Is she always like this?”

“No. Normally she's far worse.”

“You don't know even a tenth of the things I've tried,” River murmured, running her fingers along my breast again.

“You are such a seductress.”

“What can I say? I aim to please.”

“I also think you really like being in control.”

“So what?” She faced me squarely, that impish grin finding its way out yet again. Bantering with River had to be the hottest thing I'd ever done – apart from maybe that last orgasm. “I'm a bit of a dom. Nothing wrong with that.”

“And I'm a bit of a sub.” At that River did raise her eyebrows.

“A sub who won't let anyone tie you up, blindfold you, or play with your ass?”

I laughed. “River, you have to understand a few things. Like... well, for example, you probably have easy ways of keeping things sanitary in your time. In mine, the best we could do was stuff like enemas and laxatives.”

“Ugh.” River made a face. “I can see why you'd want to skip that sort of bother. Although a good enema once in awhile...”

“River!” That was the Doctor this time. But I was laughing again.

“You are absolutely irrepressible, River Song,” I said with a grin.

“Always. So tell me, then. If it was clean, would you do it?”

“I've thought about it,” I admitted. “Plenty of people think it's a great erogenous zone. I've just... got a bit of an issue with body fluids.”

“Well, you're going to have to get used to some fluids, I think, dear,” she said. “How do you expect to eat anyone out if you won't deal with that?”

“That's a bit different. I think.”

“You _think?_ ” River turned her whole body this time, propping herself up on her elbow as she looked at me in disbelief. “This is incredible. I'm not sure I've ever met someone as inexperienced as you. Are you telling me you've never gone down on a woman?”

“Inexperienced!” I paused for a second. “Okay, fine, so I haven't done much more than vanilla things in my life. That doesn't mean I haven't done _some_ things. I only ever went down on one girl, and she had _not_ properly cleaned herself. Very bad-tasting. Hard to learn to give good cunnilingus that way.”

“Mmm,” River agreed. “Clean before you scream. That's what I always say.” I snorted.

River tossed her head a little, making her curls bounce. I couldn't help smiling.

“What?” she asked.

“Your hair. It's just so... fabulous.” _Fabulous? What kind of a word is that?_

“You think so?”

“I've always had a thing for curly tops.”

“Is that what they're calling ladies with ringlets these days?”

“Do you ever do anything but tease?” I countered.

River became unexpectedly serious for a moment. “You know, I never thought about it. Probably not. Teasing is in my nature.” She looked at me searchingly. “Do you mind?”

“If I minded, would I be sitting here bantering with you now?”

“True. So let's make a tally, shall we? How many things haven't you done in bed?”

“Oh, lord,” I said, and covered my face with my free arm. River chuckled.

“Maybe listing the things you have done would be shorter.”

“River!” I said. The Doctor had gone silent, but I'd noticed that his hand was starting to move downward on his body.

“I'm going to have so much fun with you,” River said, running her hand down my side again. “I've never been anyone's first for anything so basic. Isn't that exciting, Doctor?”

She turned her head toward him as he suddenly moved forward and pressed himself into her. “Oh, my love,” she said, and moved a hand behind her. “Is that all for me?”

“Yes. Well. Mostly,” he said. I blinked.

“Mostly?” To my surprise, she simply sounded amused. “Does that mean you're interested in our new friend here?”

“I didn't say that... I mean, I don't...”

“Oh, stop playing coy with me, Doctor. If I can fuck her right in front of you, you can do things with her in front of me if you're both interested.”

River turned back to me, and my eyes widened.

“River, it isn't that I don't like guys, but... I mean, I don't know if I ever really liked him _that_ way.”

“I seem to recall you kissing him quite passionately this evening.”

“That was almost like I was drunk, or high. I hardly even knew what I was doing until it happened.”

“So you're saying you didn't enjoy it?”

My mind flashed back to the moment of the kiss, and I found myself blushing. “Well, no...”

“How about an experiment, then?”

“Part of the adventure?” I gave her my own version of a mischievous grin.

“Not many people get this opportunity, you know. I can think of several dozen people who'd skin you alive to be where you are right now.”

“Um...”

“River, stop it. You're going to scare her.” The Doctor was still cuddled into her, his free arm roaming up and down hers. I knew she was affected by it because her nipples were suddenly standing out more. I almost groaned at the sight.

“Well, I guess we could try... something.” I looked at the Doctor over River's head. “If you want to.”

“What did you have in mind?” His voice was sexier than I'd expected, and it made me feel things I didn't think I was capable of feeling about the Doctor.

“First of all, I don't think our first kiss was very satisfactory.”

“Oh? I seem to remember it having quite an effect.”

I just stared at him for a moment, unable to speak. Then I looked at River.

“River, are you sure you're okay with this?”

“Oh, for heaven's sake.” She suddenly sat up, then moved forward in the bed, leaving a conspicuous empty space between the Doctor and I. “The Doctor and I aren't exactly monogamous. You must have figured that out by now.”

“Well, yes, but he's your _husband_.” I pushed myself to a sitting position; across from me, the Doctor was doing the same.

“And this is sex. The two aren't necessarily connected.” I raised my eyebrow at her, but she continued to look steadily at me. “Actually, I'm pretty sure watching you two together would be extremely stimulating.”

“Interesting.” I looked down at her body again, then looked back up to see her smiling.

“Go on, then. If you want to.” She nodded in his direction.

I glanced at him again, and he seemed almost nervous, but his cock was standing quite proudly. All at once I wanted to touch it.

I flushed, then looked him in the eye and nodded.

He slid over the bed toward me, landing rather awkwardly on his back. I couldn't help my giggle as he flailed vaguely; but the sound was cut off abruptly as he popped up in front of me, far closer than I had expected.

I pulled myself to a kneeling position, reaching out a hand to trace his cheekbone with my fingertips, and his eyes closed, cock twitching in my peripheral vision. _Okay, he's_ definitely _into this._ I rested my hand on his cheek, unmoving, and waited until he opened his eyes before I learned in toward him and pressed my lips to his. They were soft and warm, and a tingle went through me as he put his own hand to my face. It was larger than I'd expected, but delicate – the fingers of an artist or a surgeon.

“Mmm.” I broke the kiss, then, and looked searchingly at him. A smolder of desire had entered his eyes, and after a moment, he cupped my entire face in his hands and leaned in again.

This kiss quickly evolved to open mouths and then tongues, and I sank into it, sensuously exploring his mouth. My hands moved down his neck and to his shoulders, feeling all the muscles there, as he touched my hair almost reverently. His skin was unbelievably smooth. I moved down even further, my hands running over his slim chest, and he moaned softly. _Am I really having this effect on the_ Doctor _? Jesus Christ._

I pulled away again, looking at him, then at River. Her expression was one of satisfaction... and plenty of unresolved arousal, as I quickly saw. The Doctor, though, was looking down at me, and I realized his focus was on my chest. I couldn't help another blush.

“Doctor...”

“Is it okay if I... I mean, do you mind if I... touch you?” He sounded almost sheepish. “I mean, you enjoyed that, right? Because I enjoyed it, and I wouldn't mind if we kept going for a little longer...”

“On one condition.”

“What's that?”

“I get to touch you back.”

“Oh, yes, please do,” River said, in such a low and sensual voice that a tremor went through me. “I'm so glad you two are getting on.”

“So am I,” I said, surprising myself. Then, surprising myself even more, I pulled the Doctor into me and began to kiss him in earnest.

“Be right back, dears!” River sprang from the bed like she was some sort of acrobat, then practically ran out of the room. I broke my lips from the Doctor's as I watched her mad dash.

“Where's she going?”

“Probably to get some toys.”

“Toys? She keeps those on the TARDIS?”

“She keeps all sorts of things on the TARDIS. I never quite know what I'm going to find next, with River.”

“Yeah, that's her all right.” My hands had found their way into his hair, which was softer than I'd given it credit for. He ran his fingers along my jaw, then slowly down my neck. My head fell back lazily.

“Most humans have a erogenous zone somewhere on their neck, or sometimes by an ear or a collarbone. I don't suppose you have anything like that?”

“I don't suppose.” My eyes were half shut already as he caressed the left side of my neck.

“How about we play a game? The best kind of game... one that has two winners.” His speech had been rapid, but it was starting to become slower and more flirtatious. “How quickly do you think I can find your erogenous zone?”

“You mean three winners.” I turned my head again to see River walking back in, her hips swaying with each step.

“The TARDIS was quite quick about letting me find this,” River continued. “In fact, she seemed almost eager to get me back to you. The telepathic circuits are clearly sensing our randiness.”

“Clearly.” I could hear the smile in the Doctor's voice.

River plunked a rather large duffel bag on the bed, flinging things out as the Doctor slowly caressed my neck with his fingers. His other hand was behind my head now, and I relaxed into his grip.

“Am I on the right side?”

“Doctor, isn't asking me cheating?” I said playfully.

“Maybe a little.”

“You do know you're actually on the left side of my neck.” River snorted softly.

“But is it the one that turns you on?”

I looked up at him, then, with half-lidded eyes. “Oh my, Doctor. I never knew you could be so seductive.”

“It's a mutual learning experience, then. I appreciate those. Well, it's not quite on your neck, is it, at least on this side. How about if I try...”

His fingers worked their way behind my ear, and as he stroked upward I couldn't help a slight arch.

“Ah, I've found it already. Of course, I _am_ very clever,” he said.

“Yes, I know. Here.” I guided him to the precise spot, letting out a small, satisfied moan as he ran his fingers over it.

“I do love a good erogenous zone.” His head dipped so quickly that it was almost a blur, and his lips found the same spot with precision, suckling it gently.

“Mmm.” I slid my hands down his back, gripping him tightly.

“Finally.” I moved my head just enough to see River pull something small and square from the bag. She opened it, pulling out two flat, slightly fluffy circles.

“What are those?” I asked.

“Psychic devices. One is a transmitter and one is a receiver.” She touched one with a finger, looked at it, and then gently pressed it just above my right temple.

I frowned. “Wait a minute. Who's transmitting here? And what exactly is being shared?”

“These days – or, well, by the 42nd century, at least – we can do much better than just being voyeurs during a threesome. This will let me feel the same pleasure that you feel during the sexual act, at the same time as you feel it.”

“And it really works?” I asked. The Doctor had paused for a moment while he examined the transmitter on my head.

“I haven't had a chance to test it before now. I guess we'll find out.” River stuck the receiver to her own temple. “I believe, Doctor, that you were stimulating an erogenous zone?”

In a flash he found it again, running his tongue over it in tiny circles, and I moaned, leaning back into his hands as he slowly lowered me to the bed.

“Oh, that's marvellous,” River said, touching her own neck in the same spot. “I can feel it almost as well as if he was touching me himself. But this isn't a spot of mine, which means you're transmitting both physically and mentally. And you really _are_ exquisitely sensitive.”

River Song feeling everything I felt... the mere idea made my arousal grow. She grinned at me after a moment.

“Like the thought of that, do you?” The purr in her voice made a response unnecessary, because she felt my answer shortly after. She pulled several pins from her hair, shaking it out before she climbed back onto the bed and sat cross-legged near us. She was touching her neck again, but this time further down, just above her collarbone. Her own sweet spot.

The Doctor was moving his hands lower, running them along my shoulders and the skin near my collarbones. My chest rose higher to meet his touch, and I felt a soft chuckle against my skin.

“That's the next erogenous zone, is it? I suppose I can work with that...”

His caresses were so rhythmic and deep that I almost felt like I was getting a massage. Pleasure and relaxation at the same time. Then I saw, in my peripheral vision, River moving her hands toward her breasts, and I breathed in sharply.

“Oh!” She moaned, then looked at me again. “I should have known. Psychic feedback loop. You see me getting aroused and it turns you on more, which in turn makes me even more aroused.”

“Is that going to be a problem?” I couldn't help the playful tone, and to my great surprise a slight flush came to her cheeks.

“Never.” Her mischievous grin was back, spiking my own pleasure, and then River was touching her nipples, arching slightly into her own hands, and _oh, god_.

The Doctor was circling my breasts, and his mouth was beginning to move downward. It felt good – so good – and watching River made it even better. But a new idea was forming in my head... something more wicked than most of the ideas I'd had so far.

“Doctor... _oh_... could we stop for just a minute?”

“Why?” River was sitting up, sounding almost pouty. I could practically feel the imps dancing in my eyes as I looked her over.

“What do you say we _really_ make this an adventure?”

*

A minute or two later, River's wrists were handcuffed to the rails of the headboard.

“If this psychic link works as well as I think it does,” I said, making sure the cuffs weren't too tight before I locked them, “you feel everything about as intensely as I do. Would that include an orgasm?”

A devilish gleam was in River's eyes. “Even if it wasn't exact, I'm sure that if you climaxed, it would be more than enough to induce my own.”

“Let's hope, then, that the Doctor finds every single one of my erogenous zones. An adventure and a game all rolled into one.”

“Actually, that sounds more like a dare,” the Doctor said.

“You bet your ass it is.”

“Probably shouldn't bet that away just yet. Might need it later on.” Even the mental image that created sent a ripple of pleasure through me. River moaned, tugging at the cuffs just a little before she remembered that she was bound.

“Patience, dear River. Think how long I had to wait for you tonight.” I winked at her.

The Doctor cupped my breasts in his hands, running his thumbs around my nipples. It was clear that the psychic link was getting stronger, because my moans and River's were becoming almost simultaneous. She wasn't struggling against the restraints anymore, but her nipples were getting decidedly hard. I imagined myself being the one to touch them, and stifled another groan. Maybe she didn't know it yet, but this was an exercise in restraint for me, too. _Soon you'll get to touch her. Soon..._

I ran my hands down his chest, stroking the musculature that I found there, and flicked at one of his nipples. At that he moaned himself, and then River did the same beside me. Could she feel the way I was touching him... running my fingers around each dot, pinching them just a little until they stood erect? Meanwhile he had lowered his mouth to my left breast, and I found myself gripping his chest slightly as groans continued to escape me.

It didn't take long before I wanted more, and before I knew it my hands were trailing down toward his length. He lifted his head as his breath hitched.

“Marissa... are you sure you want to do this?”

“Do _you_ want to do this?”

“I... well, yes, I suppose I do,” he said haltingly, as if it was a difficult admission to make. Next to us I could see River turning her head to stare at us. Her wrists twitched in the handcuffs again. God, she was _so_ hot naked and handcuffed. I gulped, then turned my attention back to the Doctor as I heard River catch her breath.

“There's something I have to ask first,” I said. “Do I need to worry about getting pregnant?”

The Doctor shook his head. “Not genetically compatible.”

“There go my dreams about having Time Lord babies.” I grinned at him, but he just blinked. “I'm kidding. I don't even want kids.”

“I see. So what do you think? Do you want to...”

“Fuck?” I said, in a lower tone than I'd anticipated. “I would love to.”

*

Being flooded with all the sensations and feelings going through Marissa was a rather extraordinary experience. It was taking all River's willpower not to pull on the cuffs so hard that they left bruises. Such incredible arousal with no way to relieve it was maddening. And then, of course, every time Marissa took a peek at her and saw her aroused state, Marissa got even more turned on by the sight, which made River's desire grow exponentially.

River bucked her hips, groaning loudly as the Doctor moved his mouth down to Marissa's clit, circling around it slowly with his tongue but never touching it. River knew he was doing it to test the limits of Marissa's patience as much as to see what she liked. If he'd done it to River she'd have wanted to slap him; but Marissa seemed to find it incredibly erotic. From what she was getting from the woman's head, this kind of teasing was something she'd done many times before.

This was the part that River hadn't bothered mentioning: as the psychic link was taking greater hold, other sorts of emotions and thoughts were starting to leak in as well. River felt the woman's familiarity with the motions the Doctor was making, and the certainty in how much she liked it. Of course, that made River like it as well. She was gaining a whole new appreciation for gentle lovemaking.

She felt fingers probing her – Marissa's – entrance. Everything was so strong now that it was becoming harder to differentiate her own feelings, particularly the physical ones. The fingers making yet more teasing and slow circles was hot, so hot, that she found herself trying to grind against the bed, which did absolutely nothing. _Please, Doctor, for the love of all the gods, just touch us already._

His tongue went to Marissa's clit. Finally. A loud cry came from River and Marissa's throats simultaneously, and the Doctor looked over at River with a sly sort of laughter in his eyes. She knew that her body was flushed and her pupils dilated, but she wondered if the Doctor had any idea how aroused she really was.

River slid herself along the bed far enough that her core was facing him, then slowly and deliberately spread her legs.

“Oh my _God_.” It was Marissa who spoke first, her voice hitching. A flood of arousal unlike anything River had yet experienced came through the link, and she threw back her head and moaned. The woman definitely wasn't half-minded when it came to River, the way she'd seemed to be about the Doctor.

“I think River is enjoying the show,” the Doctor said, still with the grin. He ran a finger next to Marissa's knob and down toward her opening, and the two women both gasped aloud.

“I think it's a little more than enjoyment, love... and it's not just a show, either. Not with this link.” The arousal was far more overwhelming than River had anticipated, although she wasn't about to admit it. She hadn't expected Marissa's feelings and pleasures to come through so thick and fast. There was silence for a moment, then she looked over at Marissa, who seemed to be contemplating her intently. River felt a prickle of... was that concern?

“You know, the handcuffs were a good idea,” Marissa said, “but maybe you need a little something... extra.”

“Are you sure? I've been in restraints before, you know. I can handle it.” But the other woman was evaluating her, not seeming convinced by her words. For that matter, River didn't know if she was fully convinced herself.

“I'm sure you can, but... _oh_.” Another wave of pleasure. River groaned loudly as the Doctor's mouth went back around Marissa's clit, and Marissa arched into his tongue. It felt incredible, but it was also driving River absolutely insane. Much more so than being restrained and teased would normally do.

“I just... dammit, I want you, too, River,” Marissa said with heat in her voice. “Do you have any idea how badly I want you? I haven't even touched you yet, not really, and then you go all spread-eagled on us...”

“Are you suggesting we let her go?” The Doctor's tone was impish in a way that didn't happen often.

“Maybe.” Marissa thought about it for a second, and her arousal deflated just enough for River to figure out which set of sensations was hers again. She looked at River with a smile, but when she spoke again, her voice was mischievous.

“I wonder... how submissive can a dom be?”

*

The solution was simple, at least in my own mind: I would free River, but she couldn't move, or touch either of us, unless I allowed it.

She had taken great delight in the idea. “It's not as if I've _never_ played the submissive one, you know.”

“But not often?” The Doctor had temporarily stopped his ministrations, and although I was aching to be touched, teasing River like this was too arousing for me to make myself stop. The Doctor seemed to be enjoying his own bit of voyeurism, anyway. He hadn't taken himself in hand, but I could tell he wanted to.

“No,” River admitted.

“So we have a first for me, and a not-usual for you. I think that makes us about as even as we're ever going to get.”

River winked at me. “Just about.” Even that light teasing sent a spark of pleasure through me, and it made River close her eyes.

“I think _you_ just couldn't wait any longer,” she said playfully. “Don't forget that I feel everything you're feeling, darling. This is turning her on incredibly, you know.” This last she tossed at the Doctor, who had knelt back a little, just watching us.

“Are you trying to make me jealous? Because I already know how sexy I am.”

“I'm trying to tell you that I would really like you to bang her, and I think she'd like it, too.”

“And so would you.”

“Of course.” There it was again: the smolder of her true love underneath all that sensuality. An intensity she never achieved with me, because, of course, she didn't love me. It shouldn't have stung, but it did.

“What's wrong, dear?” River was giving me a quizzical look.

“Nothing. I just... never mind.” Was she sensing what I was feeling? _Of course she is, you dummy._ That's what the link was supposed to do, after all. I just hadn't anticipated feeling like this.

I looked at the wetness visible between her legs, then swallowed. “All right. I'm going to uncuff you. Just don't do anything to either of us unless I say you can. Is that all right with you, Doctor?”

“I'm sure you two ladies can work this out on your own,” he said with a vague wave of his hand. “But I would be very happy if you decided _quickly_.”

In response, I reached over and took the cuffs off River's hands. She sat up, then put her hands behind her back. River quiet and compliant was new for me, but also incredibly attractive.

“Doctor?”

“Coming, dears.” I giggled a little at the tone of voice, but when he sidled up next to me with his cock almost fully erect, the giggle stopped.

“No wonder you're so frustrated,” I said. “We really haven't been giving you the attention you deserve.”

“I highly agree. Well, then. Let's get to it.” He rubbed his hands together.

“Just one more question,” I said, turning to River again. “What do I call _you_? You know, since you're the sub and all.”

“Whatever you want, really. Some people like pet names. Others like rather more derogatory terms.” The corners of her mouth turned up.

“Well, derogatory isn't going to cut it.” I thought for a moment. “How about – I don't know, beautiful? Gorgeous? Incredibly damn hot?”

“The last one is a bit of a mouthful.”

“Beautiful, then. Because you are.” I bit my lip as emotion surged through me – love and affection and longing all in one. After a moment River blinked.

“You know, I didn't really believe it, even after all the larvae died. That you actually loved me.”

“You felt that in the link, too?”

She nodded. “Is that all right?”

“Yes. Beautiful one.” I put my hand against her cheek, then on impulse I reached behind her, taking her hands from behind her back and putting them at her sides.

“You don't really need to be _that_ submissive,” I said softly. “I like you the way you are.”

When I moved in to kiss her, she put her hands on my face, and my fingers went into her hair, as they seemed wont to do. The kiss was sweet and loving on my part, and she seemed to sink into my own mental zone after a few moments, stroking the sides of my face as she explored my mouth more slowly and sensually than she'd done before. When we finally broke apart, I found myself shivering.

“You may not reciprocate my feelings,” I said, “but it's still wonderful to get to kiss you like that.”

“I can feel them, though. Through the link.” Her eyes were misty, and I was taken aback. “It's... it's amazing. I didn't know anyone could feel that way about me.”

“The Doctor and I clearly need to give you a few lessons.” I smiled at her. “Speaking of that... I hope you've been enjoying watching us kiss, Doctor, dear.”

“It was quite a lovely kiss. I wouldn't mind a kiss like that.”

I looked at River. “I think that's your cue, beautiful.”

River smiled at me, then moved toward him and pressed her lips to his tenderly.

I reached under River, moving my hands along the Doctor's torso until I found his nipples. The Doctor moaned into River's mouth. Her kiss was becoming more passionate, and as I caressed the Doctor my arousal was beginning to grow again... and I could see River's breath hitch precisely in time with my responses. The synchronization was flawless now.

“You know, this psychic transmitter really is fun,” I said coyly. “I could drive you right to the edge of insanity if I wanted to. Of course, that would have been easier if I'd left you cuffed to the bed.”

“You could have, you know.” She turned to me and grinned, then traced a line down the Doctor's face.

“I think I like this better.” I watched her for another moment, then said, “All right... hands to your sides, beautiful. It's my turn.”

She knelt beside us as I kissed the Doctor again, wending my way slowly down his chest with my fingers, then gently pushed him to the bed. My hands wandered down his abdomen in the same sorts of circular motions he'd used on me, and he squirmed, his cock twitching with the touches. As I looked down at it, I couldn't help feeling an odd sense of power. I was in the Doctor's bed, and he was actually letting me touch him and pleasure him, even though he didn't know me. Trusting me with himself and his body. It was exhilarating.

I moved down further, running my fingers along the base of the shaft, and he moaned again, pushing his hips up slightly. I cupped his balls in my right hand, slowly caressing them, then ran my other hand in crescents around his cock, only occasionally touching the base with a thumb. After a minute or so of this, the Doctor let out a sound of frustration.

“You're almost as bad as River. This teasing is enough to drive a person mad.”

“Didn't you do pretty much the same thing to me a few minutes ago?”

“That's not the point!”

“Oh, but I think it is.” I said with a chuckle. River was smiling in my peripheral vision, clearly enjoying my little power trip as much as I was. _River_... all at once a switch flipped inside me, and the intensity of every sensation increased tenfold. God, I wanted her. She moaned, too, and her fingers curled into her palms.

“Remember, beautiful, you can't touch yourself. Not yet.”

“I know, I know. That isn't going to stop me from wanting to, though.” Oh, the seduction in that tone.

I lowered my head toward the Doctor's cock and flicked the head with the tip of my tongue. His groan was small, but audible.

“Not enough?” He didn't even bother answering me. I let my tongue slowly slide down his length, and he shuddered as his erection swelled even further. I wanted him inside me so badly.

I lowered my mouth onto his cock, and he moaned far more loudly this time.

“You know, I think you're more vocal with her than you are with me,” River said, a note of something like jealousy in her voice even as her breathing hitched. I began to move up and down, my hand stroking the bottom of his shaft as I used tongue and lips on the rest, and he was breathing heavily.

“My hormones have never been quite this active before,” he said, and let out another moan.

“Maybe we'll have to play with that one day,” River said.

“I don't know if that's... ohhh.” This doctor, who babbled on and on about everything and nothing all day long, was apparently becoming lost for words.

I continued running my hand up and down his length as I lifted my mouth. “I think it's time we did something more about this. What do you think?” I looked up at his face from my position near his now very-stiff cock, and he nodded vigorously.

“I think... that would be a very good idea.” His voice almost cracked, and I couldn't help being astonished at how much this was affecting him.

“River,” I said. “Why don't you sit on his stomach, turned toward me? If you're all right with that, Doctor.”

“That's fine, yes. Go ahead,” he said distractedly.

“And as for me...”

I positioned myself over him, then touched myself a little to make sure I was wet outside as well as in. I was amazed at just how much fluid there actually was.

River was facing me, that ripe, voluptuous figure directly in front of my hands and eyes once more, and even more heat went through me at the sight of her. The longing was back, too... to hold her, caress her, be with her. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back just a little, sinking into the sensations.

I moved his cock toward my opening, then slowly sank down onto it.

It took me a minute to get used to it; he was a lot fuller than my vibrator. As I moved slowly, River was pressing herself down against the Doctor, and her moans were incredibly erotic. I looked into her eyes.

“River... beautiful... come here. Let's see how well I can figure out the mechanics of this.”

“I'm your first for this, too?” Her eyes were sparkling.

“In a threesome, in this particular position... yes, you are.”

“How can I say no to that?”

I finally sank all the way down onto the Doctor, and as he let out a soft groan, River leaned over and kissed me. A wonderful electric shock sensation shot down my body, and River looked at me and blinked.

“Incredible. I haven't felt a thrill like that in years.”

“Kiss me,” I whispered. So she did.

The truth was that as I struggled to find a rhythm with the Doctor and River at the same time, she was doing far more to compensate position-wise than I was. I couldn't quite stabilize it; but she was moving herself up and down with her knees as I moved on the Doctor, keeping our mouths together. Pleasure was coming over me in powerful waves now, and it was clear that River was feeling it even more intensely. She soon broke away from me, panting heavily.

“This is phenomenal,” she said, screwing up her face. “I could come just from sitting here.”

“That's what I want, beautiful,” I said, studying her curves and using it to fuel my own passion. “Come for the ride with me. Literally.” I grinned, but we were both moaning now, and things were beginning to progress much faster for her. The constant loops the psychic link was creating were driving her close to the brink.

“I think this particular ride might be over soon.” She gasped again.

“In that case... come here.”

She pushed herself up toward me, but instead of kissing me, she positioned herself so that the side of her chin rested on my shoulder. I could feel her curls against my cheek, and her breath was warm as she exhaled slowly against me. I looked down at her chest, the nipples incredibly hard, and my own breath caught in my throat.

I ran my hands down her body as I finally, finally touched her for the first time.

“Oh!” River's cry was almost piercing as I stroked her breasts, which fit almost perfectly inside my hands. I did my best to make a circular grind on the Doctor, rather than move too much up and down, and he moaned loudly behind River. _Thank you, Game of Thrones._

“River, you are so perfect.”

“ _Shit_ ,” she called out, arching against me. My own passion, the movements inside me, my hands on her – her expression was so intense, her arousal so acute, that it was having almost as much effect on me as if I'd been wearing my own psychic link.

I took my hands off her reluctantly, using them to stabilize myself above the Doctor as I tilted slightly forward, moving up and down again, my breathing becoming heavier.

“Yes... _fuck_...” River swearing was so incredibly hot. I reached out a hand and touched a breast, running my fingers over a nipple, then pinched it just the tiniest bit.

“Don't stop... please...” She was actually begging.

“Come for me,” I whispered, gently tweaking her nipple again and kissing the nape of her neck. Her hands moved behind me, and she gripped my shoulders tightly, threw back her head, and shouted lustily as she came _hard_.

I had to put both hands back to the Doctor's torso as my standard lack of endurance kicked in, but my renewed vigor in the up and down motions seemed to be prolonging River's climax, so I continued to kiss whatever part of her skin was near my mouth. God, she was gorgeous. And I was so _full_ with the Doctor, and so close to my own orgasm as I watched River flying through her own... but I knew I wasn't going to get there without a little help.

“River...” I whispered. She looked at me, eyes almost feral as she slowly came down from the pinnacle.

“I need... just a finger, if you can, on my clit...”

“You'll come about two seconds after I put it there.” Even though she'd just fallen apart, River was already sounding collected. Her body's reactions, however, were far less controlled.

“That's the point.”

“But if you wait, oh, 20 seconds or so, I can come with you again.”

“That fast?”

“What can I say? Part Time Lord. Quick recovery time.” She shrugged a little.

“All right. Well...” I slowed my rhythm down, which earned another moan from the Doctor. I couldn't see his face, and I had absolutely no idea how far along he was. River turned all the way around to look at him then, earning me a wonderful view of her backside. She was already hitching her breath again as my own did the same.

“Oh, you're getting there, aren't you, sweetie?” She put a hand on his face, and he looked up at her with the most trusting eyes I'd ever seen. It almost made him look truly young.

“She loves you, too, you know,” River said.

“What?” I asked, surprised. She looked back at me.

“Oh, not the same way you love me,” River said. “But you care about him. ”

“I wouldn't have been able to do _this_ if I didn't,” I said. “My beauty, can you turn around?”

She complied. “What do you mean, you wouldn't have been able to?”

“Explanations later,” I said. “I just need a finger. Please...”

She moaned again. “Oh, yes, there it is again... _shit_ , that's strong.” Her breathing became heavy quickly.

“Don't grind,” I said, suddenly stern. “Just put your finger right here. I'll do the work.” I guided her hand to the particular spot I needed, and when her finger touched it, my cry was loud and sharp.

“Do _not_ move that finger. Doctor...”

“Yes, I know. I can feel it,” he said, and he sounded rather breathless. “You're squeezing me incredibly hard.”

“I bet it feels good.” It came out as almost a growl... but it took almost no time for my voice to shift into a wail as I finally went over the edge.

River's scream came not long after my own, psychically tied to me as she was. Her body was heaving, breasts bouncing as she bucked against the Doctor's stomach and I vocalized my release, drinking in every millimeter of her as I did. Her eyes met mine, and for a few moments we were just two animals caught in the most primal of all human instincts, devoid of sense and reason.

Even as we slowed and our breathing became less heavy, we were still looking at each other, caught in a moment I wasn't sure I fully understood. Then she leaned forward, her face resting in the crook of my shoulder as she collected herself.

“Doctor,” I breathed after another few moments of enjoying River's warm body pressed against mine. “Are you... I mean, are you going to...”

“Definitely getting closer,” he said, and his expression was one that I would have interpreted as pain had I not seen its like on my own face before. It was extreme pleasure, or maybe pleasure-as-pain, but he was further along than I had thought.

“I think that for this next part you should be on top. River, dear, as much as I love to have you cuddled into me...”

She raised her head after a moment. “Oh. Yes, of course.” She slid off the Doctor, moved about a foot away, and then sank into the bed face-up and closed her eyes.

I gently removed the transmitter from my head, putting it near River, and then the Doctor masterfully shifted us so that he remained inside me even as we turned over, placing my head on the pillow exactly where his had been.

“How in the world do you do these things?” I asked.

“Lots of practice,” he said, grinning slightly.

“Speaking of practice...”

“Oh, I think this is more than just practice, don't you?” he said, using a low, sexy voice I'd never heard from him before. It sent a tiny shiver down my spine.

He looked into my eyes fervidly, and as I wrapped my legs around his waist he pushed himself into me, starting to move much faster than I'd been able to. I was surprised that despite the depth he was reaching, nothing at all hurt or even felt stretched.

“Are you all right?” He was looking at me almost tenderly. It was not a side of the Doctor I had seen often, and definitely not directed at a complete stranger.

“Yes, I'm fine. It's just... well, you're so big compared to what I've been used to, but it doesn't hurt at all.”

“Some of the hormones released were no doubt related to pain reduction. Not to mention all the adrenaline.” The words would have been clinical if his breath hadn't been so ragged and heavy with sex.

As he continued to thrust, I could feel more desire clawing its way through me, and all of a sudden what he was doing felt so. Damn. Good.

“Fuck.” I moaned, then started pushing my hips up to meet the Doctor's strokes. “It doesn't usually feel like _this_ when I've just gotten used to a man.”

“You had the larvae inside you longer than anyone else, and you're fully human. That makes you the most vulnerable.”

“Does that mean I'm going to be this horny for a long time?” I groaned again. I was already halfway to another orgasm, and nobody had come close to my clit this time.

“I don't know. It's possible.”

“Harder, Doctor. Faster. _Please_.” I never wanted it harder or faster. Whatever else these hormones were doing to me, they seemed to be changing what I liked during sex. The extra stimulation was satisfying a new, fierce need inside me.

“Let's try something different, shall we? Uncross your legs.” He took each of my legs and put my ankles to his shoulders, then grabbed a pillow from somewhere beside me and shifted my bottom onto it.

“I don't know if I'm strong enough to keep myself like this,” I said, as the Doctor moved himself closer, placing his hands near the top of my thighs.

“I am,” he said. “Don't worry. Not much work on your part.”

“I sincerely hope not,” I said.

He positioned himself at my entrance and moved inside me again, and suddenly I understood why he'd chosen this. The penetration was deep – deeper than we'd been able to get in a standard missionary.

“Oh, yes,” I breathed. “This is fantastic.”

“Still having fun?” River sat up all at once, shaking out her curls.

“Look who decided to crawl back onto the face of the planet,” I said.

“Sometimes a good orgasm knocks a girl down for a few minutes. Besides, it was so much fun to listen to the two of you, even if someone did remove her transmitter.” River picked up the tab I'd placed beside her, then plucked her own off her forehead.

“Looked like you needed a break.” I said, then groaned again. “Jesus Christ. _Yes_ , just like that.”

He was driving himself into me almost as hard as he'd done to River, and it was the best penetrative sex I'd ever had in my life. I found myself digging my fingers into the Doctor's back, and almost every thrust was accompanied by a tiny moan from me. The Doctor was starting to dish out some choice words, although I had no idea what most of them meant. River, ever the voyeur, grinned to herself every time he said one of them, so _she_ clearly knew what they meant.

I could feel the Doctor swelling inside me – it was subtle, but I knew what it meant. “Oh, I felt _that_.”

He only nodded. His breathing was rapid now, and his thrusts, rather than slowing down with any sort of fatigue, had actually picked up speed. I felt myself being pushed harshly into the pillows with each one.

“Please... don't... stop...” Another orgasm was on the horizon, and I could tell it was going to be of the type that was so pleasurable it would hurt.

I moved my hand down toward my clit, and the second I touched it I immediately gave another scream. The thrusting continued, deep and raw, and the Doctor's face was set in a line that looked almost angry as he concentrated with all his might. I was building up incredibly fast now.

Then all at once the Doctor rammed into me harder than he ever had, shouting loudly, and I could feel liquid warmth begin to spurt into me. No one had ever come inside me before, and it was as big a turn-on as I'd ever thought it would be. Even after it ended, though, he became erect again so quickly that he didn't even need to pull out. I looked at him quizzically.

“Time Lords have more stamina than your average human,” he said, smiling down at me, full of cheer once more. “Maybe enough for you to...”

“Just _fuck me_.” I growled. I pulled him as close as I could get, and almost immediately I felt his hand brushing my own aside as he touched my clit. I arched into him as his cock hit what felt like every nerve ending I possessed.

My cry tore itself from my throat as I went over the edge again, my muscles contracting forcefully against him. The climax was so overwhelming that I threw my head back, gripping the sheets for all I was worth. The Doctor had moved his hand, and reached to touch my face oh-so-gently as he began to slow his movements. My chest was still heaving with rapid breaths as he looked into my eyes.

“Are you still okay?”

“Yeah. I'm fine. Better than fine. Thank you.” He ran his thumb over my cheekbone, and I was surprised to see real emotion in his eyes. Affection, even. _How the hell is that possible?_

As I finally came down, and after the Doctor had finally slid out from inside me, my limbs were once again getting the familiar feeling of relaxation after the high. I was about to do a River, simply dropping down and lying there, when she appeared in front of me again.

“Here. Use some of this,” she said. She was armed with a couple more rags from the Doctor's trousers and her mysterious spray.

“What is it?”

“A cleaner specifically designed for body fluids. A few sprays of this gets rid of just about every kind of secretion.”

“Damn. We could do with some of that in our century.”

“You might want to use these first, though,” she said, putting the cloths in my hands. “The TARDIS doesn't like being dripped on.” I was just about in time to catch the fluid... and, true to River's word, no sooner had I sprayed the mess than it completely vanished.

“That is so cool.”

“Can you pass the bottle over if you're done with it?” The Doctor had gotten off the bed and was standing just alongside it, using a rag on himself. River tossed it over to him as I flopped down on the bed, letting my arms and legs fall where they would.

“Tired?” River asked me.

“A bit, yeah. Don't you two ever get tired? Or sleep?”

“He doesn't sleep much. I need more, but not as much as a typical human.”

“Is that how you manage all those dates while your parents are in bed?”

“How do you know about that?”

“I did just catch you on a date, you know.”

“You said before that we were fiction in your world.” She was contemplative now. “What sort of format? Books? Movies?”

“Television show,” I said. “We don't tend to see the content of most of your dates, but we know they happen. On the other hand, there's a lot of other stuff I do know that I'm not going to talk about unless you sync your diary with my knowledge. Spoilers.”

“What's this about spoilers?” I turned my head as the Doctor sat at the edge of the bed. I grabbed a nearby pillow to put under my head. “Oh, and the part about us being fiction, because you really should have told me that long before now, River.”

“I tried,” River said. “That was just before she walked up and kissed you.”

“Bit of a distraction,” he conceded. “On the other hand, Marissa, you smelled like a different time and space even when you got here. Actually, I can still smell it, now that the hormones have gone down. You aren't supposed to be here, are you?”

“Definitely not. Can't say I mind, though.”

“So where you exist, we're fiction, and on _television_?”

“Yeah. That probably sounds hard to believe.”

“But not completely impossible.” He stood up and got his sonic screwdriver, then ran it over me again.

“Exactly what kind of readings are you looking for?” I asked.

“Good question.” River was staring at the screwdriver. He didn't seem happy about what he was seeing, and continued the scan for a few seconds longer.

“There are theories,” he said as the screwdriver turned off. “About energy, time, matter, thought. That in reality they're all connected, and it's possible to travel among all of them, all at the same time.”

“That reminds me of Lwaxana Troi. Another character on a TV show,” I said. “She said something similar to a man who'd been drawn to a woman very far from him in space. That matter and thought and energy were all the same thing, and that's why they were able to find each other.”

“When did you come from, then? What century?”

“Twenty-first. The year 2017, to be exact.”

“Interesting thoughts from humanity, especially for that time period. I wonder if the humans in this universe conceive of things the same way.”

“Well, do you guys have Star Trek?” I asked. “If so, then probably. At least some people. Or scientists might already have thought of it.”

“So some of you understand the basic concept, even if you know nothing about the science.”

“I guess. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.” He looked down at himself again. “Oh. Clothes. Maybe we should put some of those on. Humans tend to get a bit hung up on that sort of thing.”

“Yeah. Definitely clothes.” It came out more sternly than I'd expected. The Doctor was plotting something, and who knew what he'd do in a few minutes? But, more importantly, I didn't think I could spend much time looking at him naked without getting aroused again. Or at a naked River Song.

I glanced over at her. Yes, that was _definitely_ arousing. It was clear that I was still swimming in hormones. I caught River looking at me and quickly averted my eyes, my cheeks turning red.

“Exactly how long does this take to subside?” River asked the Doctor.

“What? Oh.” He was looking at my face, which made me blush harder. “Well... probably quite awhile.” He sniffed the air. “Yes. At least one or two more hours for both of you. Not sure about me. One more round would probably fix it... but it can wait. Lots to do!”

“Hours?” River was giving the Doctor a coy look.

“Oh. Um. Well, I'm going to look up a few things, and then maybe...” he trailed off. “I mean, you two could continue without me, if you want to...”

River paused. “Of course, dear. Do what you need to do.”

It seemed less than sincere on her part, and I glanced at her sharply. The Doctor, though, smiled and nodded. “Feel free to join me when you're done. Or maybe I'll come find you. Better get going, then!” He grabbed his sonic, then left the room briskly, his bare backside pale under the lights.

“He's not going to get dressed, is he?”

“I doubt it,” River said.

I looked at her intently. Her face was still neutral. “Why did you let him leave?”

“He has other things to do... things that don't involve me.”

“He could have waited awhile. We're in a time machine. I know you didn't want him to go, River. Why didn't you say anything?”

“It wouldn't have mattered,” she said, and I could see the hurt in her eyes. “When the Doctor decides he wants to do something, he does it. Anyway, he hasn't got much use for sex, as a general rule. He finds it repetitive.”

I was quiet for a moment. “I hate it when he hurts you like this.”

“I suppose you've seen other instances like this on the telly?”

I couldn't help smiling. “The telly. You're all so British.”

“That _is_ where I spent most of my childhood. From your accent I'd guess that you're from North America?”

“Canada.”

“I thought the accent wasn't quite American.”

“I am most definitely _not_ American,” I said vehemently.

“If I'm remembering my history right, I can understand why you wouldn't want to be mistaken for one in the early 21st century.”

“Yeah. Trump got elected in this universe, too.” I grimaced.

“Well, let's not dwell on that, shall we?” She took my hands in hers, and I stared at them, heart pounding.

“If this is just because he isn't here...”

“No.” She placed one of my palms on her cheek, and I shivered. “It's because... well, you _want_ to be here. You care. And, for some reason, you seem to like me better than you like the Doctor.”

“That's because the Doctor isn't you.”

“I think you're just hopelessly besotted.”

“You know that I am.” I traced the hand down her cheek, and she pressed it against her face with the other hand.

“It's just... nice to be wanted. I don't feel that way very often.”

“Well, you are. And by more people than just me.”

“If you say so.” She leaned forward, putting her other hand on my own cheek, and my hand went to her neck as she kissed me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're only here for the smut, this is a good place to stop reading. However, the next chapter starts Marissa's journey through the Who universe in earnest (and also contains some smoulder-y bits).


	5. Let my love caress your mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor leaves River and Marissa to work off some extra energy, but things take a turn for the worse when a piece of technology unexpectedly backfires.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to post more of this story (there's a lot of it), but after encouragement from a reader, I've decided to continue the series. This one's for you. 
> 
> Chapter title taken from the song Speak Low by George Duke.

I was more than willing to lose myself in River Song, and she seemed to want to do the same. Our kiss deepened as I sank into her, exploring every part of her mouth with my tongue, and she drank me in as if she was dying of thirst. We were both desperate to rid ourselves of our private loneliness and losses. What better time than now, when our hormones were still raging? And why not find closeness and relief while we were both here, and so acutely in need?

It didn't take me long to begin caressing her breasts again, and this time I revelled in the feel of them in my palms, her nipples growing harder under my touch as she hummed her pleasure inside my mouth. She was running her fingers through my hair, gently combing through tangles created by my many and varied activities since I'd popped into this universe.

After a small eternity, I pulled away from her mouth, looking into those wonderful green eyes.

“River. Let me make love to you.”

Instead of responding verbally, she pulled me further along the mattress, until she had enough room to lie down, then pulled me on top of her.

“Can we lock this door?” I asked.

“The Doctor could unlock it again if he wanted to.”

“What about a 'keep out' sign, then?”

She smiled. “How about it? Does a child of the TARDIS get a keep-out sign?” She was looking at the ceiling as she spoke – talking to the ship. I was surprised yet again by a heavy click in the door.

River chuckled. “I think she's deadlock-sealed it.”

“But the Doctor can't break through deadlock seals.”

“No, he can't. Now shut up and kiss me.” She was pulling my head down as she said it, but I needed no encouragement.

The kiss was almost unending, and far sweeter and softer than I'd ever though River would put up with during sex. But the tone of the coupling was different now: it felt warm, and suffused not just with heat, but with real tenderness. I could almost believe, in this moment, that River really did love me. That was a fantasy I could easily sink myself into.

This time my hands' trail to her chest was sensual and slow, every caress exploring some new inch of her body. We were closer and more alone than we were ever likely to be again, and I wasn't going to waste a single moment of it.

I moved over her breasts, gently stroking them... their dips at her sides, the swells at the bottom, and then, finally, the nipples that were surprisingly erect under my fingertips. She was moaning softly as her hands ran down my back, digging in just a little with her nails when I did something she liked especially. I loved the tiny nips of pain – the marks of her possession of me, and of her passion.

Her hands ran down my sides, making their way to my chest, but I sat up just enough to stop her progress.

“You've done so much for me tonight. Let me love you this time. Please.”

“You don't want anything in return?”

I laughed. “River, this isn't all about me. I don't have to constantly be on the receiving end.”

“Well,” she said, “I don't see why we can't both have a good time. Have you forgotten about the psychic link?”

“Oh, yeah.” I paused. “Do you really _want_ me to read your mind?”

“Why? What do you think you're going to find?”

“You got more emotions from the link than just sensuality, River. You could feel that I loved you, for one thing. What kind of things am I going to find inside you if I suddenly gain telepathic powers? I know you don't love me. I don't think I could stand having that front and center in my brain while we do this.”

“You are so young. So inexperienced.” She smiled, a hint of amusement in her expression. “You feel romantic love for me, and, yes, it's true that I don't feel that way about you. But the definition of love doesn't have to be so limited. Do you love the Doctor the same way that you love me?”

“Of course not.”

“But you still love him. Just in a different way.” It wasn't a question, but I nodded anyway.

“Love is more than just romance. It's affection, and caring, and regard. Warmth; comfort; trust; loyalty; even altruism. Don't you see? Love can be so many different things. And it doesn't have to be a soul bond for it to be real.”

I blinked, then lifted myself from her legs as she sat up.

“So here's the real question: how many of those things would you apply to me?”

“Well... most of them.” My admission was a bit sheepish.

“What about trust? Do you trust me?”

“Should one have faith in a rogue?” I asked, grinning.

“Is that a yes?” There was playful River again. But I still took a few seconds to contemplate my answer.

“I think so. Or at least about as much as I trust anyone. Let's just say I have issues in that department.”

“So do I... yet here we are.”

She stood, and I caught my breath as she picked up the two circular tabs that she'd put on a side table. She deliberately swayed her hips as she walked back to the bed, and I found my hands going to her waist as I swallowed hard.

“I still can't believe I get to touch you like this,” I said softly.

“And _I_ can't believe I'm about to let you read my mind. Tonight is just full of surprises.”

River examined the tabs for a moment, then offered me one. “This is the receiver. Let me put mine on first.” She touched the transmission circle to her forehead, waited for a moment, then nodded. “It should be working now. Go ahead.”

I tentatively put the tab on my finger, then pressed it to my temple.

“Ooh. It tingles.” I scrunched up my face.

“And this one doesn't. Interesting.”

“Hang on...” The link snapped on, and I gasped as I felt... _River_.

It was as if she was standing in exactly the same spot as I was. I could feel every part of her skin and body as though they were my own. Every tactile sensation she had flooded through me – every flush, every swollen place, every part of her physical arousal.

It was the emotions, though, that bowled me over.

She was still looking down at me, and I could feel a wave of her own passion going through her... along with a warmth and certainty I hadn't known she was capable of. I was conscious of two separate urges; one, the sexual part, which wanted to be sated _right now_ – and the other, something deeper and more vulnerable, that craved closeness, even gentleness, but simultaneously shrank from both.

“River.” It came out as a whisper. “I had no idea.”

“What are you getting?” It sounded like casual interest, but I sensed a prickle of something else. Fear.

“A lot of things, actually. More than I expected. For one, you're really fucking horny.”

“You didn't need the transmitters to know that.”

“Definitely not. River!” She'd sat down and begun stroking one of my breasts with her fingers. I could feel her mischief and glee as she did it.

“And you _really_ enjoy the effect you have on me.”

“Naturally.”

“But I can feel other things inside you, too. Like the part of you that's vulnerable. The part that wants tenderness. Why does it scare you so much?”

She looked at me intently, her hand dropping to her side. I could feel her shock, and the fear that had come closer to the surface with my words. “You're getting _that_ through the link?”

“River. Do you trust _me_?”

“Honestly, I don't know.” She walked a couple of paces away, then shook her head. “I choose who I show those parts of myself to very carefully. I got more from your link than I was expecting, but I didn't get anything like _this_.”

“If you'd rather I removed it...”

She spun around as my fingertips touched the circle. “No. That's not what I meant.” I was starting to appreciate the difference between empathy and true mind-reading, because I had no idea what she was thinking. It was several moments before she spoke again.

“Generally, there are only two categories of people I'd be at all likely to trust.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“The first category contains exactly one person. The Doctor.”

I couldn't help my laugh. “Surprise.”

“The second,” she continued, “is made up of people who know the most horrible crime I ever committed, and the nature of what I am, but care about me in spite of it.”

Her look was significant, but it was the feeling that hit me harder. Disbelief and relief all in one – and a sense of peace that I'd never imagined River could feel.

“Maybe you can sense what that means to me.”

I nodded. “I had no idea you felt all these things. It's so... heavy.”

“Is it too much?”

“No. I've felt far worse. If it gets too overwhelming, I will definitely let you know. Probably by ripping this damned thing off my head.”

She laughed – a real laugh. “You're adapting to the emotions far more quickly than I did. Tell me, is it the same for physical sensations?”

“I have a feeling we're about to find out.” Her desire flickered through me, along with every sensation on every nerve ending in her body, and I sucked in a breath.

“Wow. That is so fucking intense.”

“It's only going to get better.” The seductiveness in her voice was inflaming my own senses, and I couldn't help a moan.

“What do you say we get down to business?”

In an instant I had been pushed back onto the bed, and I laughed even harder than River did... the psychic loop was starting to work itself into me, and apparently it wasn't just going to be about sex. I sat up, then crawled further onto the bed.

“Come here, you imp,” I said. River had no sooner slid next to me than I took her by the shoulders and pushed her down, pinning her to the mattress. The look in her eyes was suddenly intense, and a wave of unadulterated lust flowed through her. I groaned, my fingers curling around the tops of her shoulders.

“Jesus.” Now she was getting aroused from watching me be aroused, and it made my breathing heavy. I tipped my head up as a flood of electricity went through me.

“ _Fuck_. That psychic loop is really something. I am going to come so fast.”

“I thought you wanted to make love to me.”

“I would make love to you forever.” The words fell from my mouth before I could even think about them. A fervid rush of pleasure shot through me, and then River's legs went around my waist, and I practically turned to jelly.

“So do it.”

I pressed my lips to hers more forcefully than I'd ever done to anyone, and her own passion echoed through me in the kiss. But something strange was happening: as the kiss continued, I was starting to have trouble telling the difference between my own body and River's. Mentally it was as though I was having an out of body experience, but every nerve ending was doubly, triply, quadruply sensitive.

My hands moved down her chest, and I was gasping loudly into her mouth. She responded by pulling me even closer with her legs, and a forceful rush of blood to her groin made me break the kiss and cry out.

“River...” It was a voice I'd never heard from myself, glottal and broken, and so low that it was barely audible. I remembered that she had touched a certain spot on her neck when the Doctor had been kissing behind my ear, and I kissed my way down it. The psychic link made it very, very clear when I'd found the spot.

_Holy. Shit._

I licked the spot on her neck, then sucked on it... gently at first, and then harder, when I became aware of River's frustration at the lighter touch. Meanwhile my left hand had found her nipple, tweaking it, and she arched into it, a moan escaping her lips.

Another rush of sensation to her core had me throwing my head back, and my eyes went wide as pleasure roared through me faster and faster, a mounting tidal wave of sensation. In another second I was thrown into a climax, as suddenly and unrelentingly as if I'd been struck by a freight train. I screamed again and again as my lower body jerked and spasmed, completely out of my control.

As the orgasm finally began to fade, my mind went back into my body with a thud, my cries turning into heavy panting. River's eyes were incredibly wide, but the smile on her face was full of lust and wickedness.

“My God,” I said, when both my body and the psychic link had calmed down enough for me to speak. “What _was_ that?”

“Looked like one hell of an big O to me.”

“You know what I mean, River.” I still hadn't quite caught my breath. “Is this what it felt like for you? That was completely insane.”

“That's one way to describe the experience.”

“It's just... River, you didn't come as soon as someone kissed my neck or touched my breasts.”

“Maybe because I wasn't the one touching you.” Some of her emotions were coming back through the link now, and the main one I felt was faint frustration, as patient as River was being with my questions.

“Another act. Pretending you're okay with just talking when, really, you can't stand that I'm not touching you anymore.”

“It's not my fault that you've gotten me all hot and bothered. You do know how to please a girl. And coming just from touching my chest... that's fantastic.”

“Well, the link lets me know right away if you like what I do. I'd have to be an idiot not to know how to please you with this on my head.”

I hadn't totally recovered yet, at least not within my own body, but I could tell that River's own lust was growing. I looked down at her breasts, feeling her need murmur inside me.

I put my mouth to her nipple.

“Yes, right there. Don't be afraid to use your teeth a little.” I sucked on one nipple and pinched the other, and was rewarded with a flood of pleasure, and a gasp from River's luscious mouth.

_Oh. OH._

The psychic link had switched on fully without warning, and for a moment I felt stunned, as if someone had hit me with a two-by-four. The feeling quickly went away as it was replaced with everything going through River.

I could feel her wetness as if it was my own, and the sheer amount of fluid around her opening was overwhelming. Another sharp wave of arousal – mine this time. _No. Focus. You have to_ _focus. Stay in the present. Stay here._ The sensations began paring themselves back... not much, but just enough that I wasn't going completely mad inside my own lust. I wanted to enjoy the experience fully, and that didn't involve constantly floating above my own out-of-control form. I wanted to really be _there_ , in the moment, the same way that she was.

“You are positively soaked, my beautiful.” As I began to trail my left hand downward, affection, and a cozy sort of warmth, flowed into my consciousness from the psychic link. _'Love can be so many different things.'_ Was this the way that she loved me?

I looked up at her, and she was smiling faintly. “I felt that,” I said.

“I thought you would.” She touched my hair gently. “Now does it make more sense to you? Do you understand?” That inner gladness was mixing with her sensuality, and underneath was a relaxation that I'd seen only in rare and fleeting moments on the show. There was only one word I could think of that fit what I was sensing.

“You trust me. Or at least part of you does.” I felt my own warm breath on River's skin, and, within her, burning and peace at the same time. No emotion of River's, it seemed, ever came separately, and I loved it.

She didn't speak, but she didn't have to. The link let me sense everything I needed to know.

“I love you.” I was startled to hear the words pass my lips, even though I'd already said it, and even though she already knew. She pulled me forward, and my face hovered over hers for a moment, drinking in the wonderful, serene expression on her face.

She drew my head down and pressed her lips to mine, and I was swirling in feelings – physical, emotional, even spiritual. It was a sort of merging that I could never have imagined: my perceptions were heightened, and every emotion expanded further the more I held onto it. I was filled with bliss as I stroked the tender spot on her neck, learning every touch of my tongue that she liked, my body so close to hers that I could feel the hum of energy between us.

My hands at her chest again, followed quickly by my mouth this time. It was both fascinating and overwhelming to feel how quickly the emotions slipped to the back of her mind as her physical responses began to dominate. I could feel the aching all through her as she pushed against my mouth, which was gently nibbling at the underside of her breast. Sensation was pulsing deliciously all along her vulva, and I had to forcibly push back a loop of arousal that almost overtook me on the spot.

I traced a slow line down her belly, and her legs widened as my hand went further down, touching her right thigh.

I could practically hear her mental scream of frustration.

“You have absolutely no patience.” Her nipple was in my teeth again, and I sucked on it hard, making her cry out. “I'm not going to leave you hanging. This is just the foreplay.”

“The Doctor was right about you... you _are_ a tease.” I smiled to myself as I rubbed her inner thigh slowly, enjoying the feel of the soft flesh under my fingertips. River's core was massing even more heat as I stroked her. _Dear God in heaven._

I moved my head down, planting a kiss on her thigh, and we moaned simultaneously, mine noticeably louder than her own. “It's not possible to ignore thighs like these. I'd like to see you try it.”

“I suppose it would be rather difficult.” She was trying to tease me, but I was already exploring, finding a spot that she liked rather a lot, and the playfulness got lost beneath her passion. I was getting lost in that passion, too; my ability to resist any part of the link was breaking down as her reactions intensified. My breath was heavy against her skin, and the sense of not knowing where she ended and I began was getting stronger.

“You're getting so hot and bothered,” River said in low, seductive tones. “I like that.”

“I like it even more when I make you hot and bothered.”

My other hand went to the opposite thigh, and I worked my way inward with both hands. I felt her pulse increasing with the motions, and the liquid that coated her inner lips as the waves of pleasure continued to roll over her... and suddenly the link surged. Every sensation I'd been pushing back hit me all at once, and all my nerve endings lit up.

Except this time it hurt like hell.

My body shot forward, my forehead hitting River's leg as I screamed shrilly with pain. _What the hell?_ My head was pounding, and a strange prickling sensation was coming from the link. I touched a spot next to it, wincing.

“Marissa?” River's head was rising from the pillow, and she sat up immediately once she saw the expression on my face.

“Marissa, what's wrong?”

“The link... it...” I clutched my head and cried out again as the prickle turned into something that felt like searing needles poking behind my eyes.

River tore the circlet from my head, and I rolled onto my side, moaning.

She grabbed my wrists. “Marissa, look at me. Tell me what's wrong.”

I managed to open my eyes, straining through tears to see a very blurry set of wheat-colored curls, before a fresh wave of agony took me over again. And I could feel...

She was concerned. Afraid. Uncertain.

“I thought you took off the transmitter,” I said faintly.

“I did.” She showed me the two discs as she put them back in their container, then reached toward the lid.

“River, don't close that box!”

“Why? What did it do to you?” Now she was angry, too, but it wasn't directed at me. It was...

“The link didn't shut off. I can still feel everything.”

“That's not possible.” Her eyes were wide.

“You're mad at yourself. Worried. Afraid. You think this is your fault, don't you?”

“I'm the one who bought the damned things.” A very definite self-hatred welled up inside her... one that I'd felt for myself so many times. All sorts of very old, very bad memories began flying through my brain, and my head began throbbing even harder.

“Stop it! Stop hating yourself like that! I can't stand it!”

“I'm sorry,” she whispered, and her guilt overwhelmed her. _No, not the guilt... please not that._ My head was on fire as the cascade of emotions swirled around in my head, a chaos that roared through my brain. The throbbing turned into searing, and I screamed again. My head was ripping itself apart.

It was a mercy when I felt myself sliding into darkness.

*

Marissa's eyes shut as her body went slack in River's hands.

“Marissa! Shit.” River put two fingers on the side of her neck. There was a heartbeat, but it wasn't nearly as strong as it should have been.

River looked up. “Have you unlocked this door yet? I need to talk to the Doctor! She's hurt!” There was another distinctive click. “Thanks, Mummy Two.” She often called the TARDIS this when they were alone, and she seemed to like it.

When River reached the main control room, the Doctor was perched on a chair, his screwdriver behind his ear, reading a dog-eared book. At the sound of her footsteps he looked up, then flung the book to the side.

“River! I thought you two would never finish.”

“Doctor...”

“I am very, _very_ glad you decided to come out.” He stood up, kissing her fiercely. She melted into him for the briefest of seconds before she pushed against his chest, and he moved back, startled.

“Doctor, we don't have time for this right now. Marissa is unconscious.”

He gave her a piercing look. “What happened?”

“Just come on!” She yanked hard on his arm, and they ran.

The Doctor stopped abruptly when they entered the room. Marissa was still in a fetal position, arms resting awkwardly against her head. He whipped the sonic from behind his ear and scanned her.

River gently moved Marissa's arms down, then put her fingers on the woman's neck again. “She has a pulse, but it's getting weaker.”

The Doctor studied his screwdriver. “You were playing with the telepathic link again.”

“How bad is it?”

“Her brain is shutting down. Ungluing. Turning to soup. River, where the hell did you get those devices?” His eyes were fierce under the light.

“Dorium Maldovar. He swore to me that they were safe.”

“Does this look _safe_ to you?”

“He knows perfectly well I'll slaughter him if he tries to cheat me.”

“Well, you might want to get out your gun, because she's dying for the second time tonight and I'm not sure if I can do anything to stop it!” The whirring noise of the sonic stopped, and he put it behind his ear again. There was fury in his eyes... the kind that always sent dread through River when she saw it.

“What _exactly_ happened? What were you doing when she collapsed?” The Doctor moved to put his own fingers on Marissa's neck, after which he suspended his palm in front of her nose.

“This time I was transmitting and she had the receiver. Her experience was different than mine right from the beginning. She was getting far more from the link than I'd gotten, for one thing. She could read my emotions almost immediately.”

“You couldn't do that when you were on the receiving end?”

“For me it took awhile, and even then I only got a few feelings that didn't involve sexuality. But almost as soon as she put the transmitter on she knew exactly how I felt. She also described other layers of my feelings that I had no idea the link could pick up on... things I wasn't even necessarily noticing on a conscious level.”

“Who was having sex with who?”

“She was going down on me. To her, it would have felt like she was simultaneously giving and receiving pleasure.”

“What else?”

“Well, if you remember, it took me awhile to come the first time when I was the recipient.”

“Actually, I thought it was rather quick.”

“Not compared to what happened to Marissa. Doctor, you should have seen her. It was incredibly erotic at the time, but...” River shook her head. “She even asked me if it was normal for it to feel so intense. I should have guessed something was wrong then.” River was upset... properly upset. The Doctor added it to his list of mental notes.

“Exactly how fast did it happen?”

“Right after she started touching my chest. She was kissing that spot on my neck, you know, the one I like, and she moved her hands down, and then she just came all at once. She yelled right into my ear.” River couldn't hide a tiny bit of a grin as she said the words. Even now, the memory was potent.

“I assume things moved on from there?”

“She'd been by my thighs – teasing, you know. She was finally going to all the right spots when she started screaming again, but in pain. I took the device off right away once I knew something was wrong, but, Doctor... the telepathic link didn't close.”

“She could still feel what you felt?” He was getting the look on his face that came when he was analyzing rapid-fire in his head. River took Marissa's pulse again. It was even slower than before.

“She felt _everything._ She listed every emotion I had as if she was reading a textbook. Including my anger at what I'd done. And... my self-hatred.”

“River.” His eyes had softened. “You didn't know it was going to hurt her this way.”

“That's not what you seemed to think a minute ago,” she snapped.

“Never mind that now. Was that when she passed out?”

“No. She yelled at me, telling me to stop hating myself. Saying that she couldn't stand it. She lost consciousness shortly after that.”

“So what she was getting from you was intense.”

“Apparently.” River looked down, but she wasn't quite able to hide the glistening in her eyes.

“She was a gentle sort of person,” the Doctor said. “Kind. She couldn't keep you in the handcuffs, and she couldn't truly dominate you. Later, she said she couldn't have been with me if she hadn't cared about me. For most humans, being that full of hormones would have made just about any warm body acceptable.”

“What exactly are you getting at?”

“River, listen to me. I need you to think hard about this. Was there ever a time when she knew things about you, things you thought or felt, even when you weren't linked? Things she could sense about you that you weren't showing in your body language or face, but that she knew anyway?”

“When you left...” River stopped short. He leaned in close to her.

“You need to tell me. It could be important.”

“When you went to the console room, you thought I was fine with it.”

He nodded.

“Well, she knew better. She knew I'd wanted you to stay. She asked me outright why I'd let you go without any sort of argument.”

“You were lying.” There was an edge in the Doctor's voice.

“Yes, I was lying. You had better things to do than have random sex with me. She was there, wasn't she? We were still going to get it out of our systems.”

“River...”

“Stop.” She exhaled, putting her fingers to Marissa's neck again. Judging by her expression, what she'd found was not positive.

“We might have a shot at helping her, but only if my theory is right,” the Doctor said. He took River's hands in his, which had the intended effect of focusing all of River's attention directly on him.

“Is there anyone else who would have been able to tell you were lying?”

River thought. “Maybe Amy.”

“Not enough, then.” He looked at her. “Is there _anything_ else you can think of? Anything that surprised you when she figured it out?”

“The handcuffs.” River pursed her lips slightly as she thought back. “When I was in the cuffs, I said that how I felt wasn't just a show, because of the link. I had assumed she decided to let me out of them because she thought it would be more fun if she let me go, but when she was deciding, she wasn't just playing with me.”

“What do you mean?”

“I remember sensing that she was concerned. And when I said I could handle it, she doubted me. What I didn't mention was that the link's input was a lot more intense than I'd anticipated... I was wondering myself if it would be too overwhelming. But I didn't want to spoil the mood.”

“She could tell that it would be too much for you, and she didn't want you to be hurt.”

“Well, it's hard to be sure, but maybe...” River trailed off as she stared at the Doctor, something clicking in her mind. “Wait a second. Are you saying...”

“That's exactly what I'm saying.”

“If you're right, then that link...”

“Has backfired in a way that even Dorium couldn't have anticipated.”

“So what do we do?”

“Go to the place where we have the best chance of helping her recover. I think it's time we paid another visit to the Sisters of the Infinite Schism.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, the cliffhangers. If you want to see its resolution, you'll have to read the next story in the series. ;)


End file.
